The Young Accomplice

Description

A brilliantly propulsive novel from a prize-winning author about power, betrayal and the shadow of blackmail in the years before and after WWII In the summer of 1952, Joyce and Charlie Savigear are waiting on a railway platform in the quiet English countryside. The siblings have just been released from borstal to start a new life as apprentices at Leventree, an architecture practice with a difference. The architects who've chosen them are Florence and Arthur Mayhood, a married couple motivated to give young offenders second chances. At first, they seem to offer the Savigears a steady path to happiness. But when a menacing figure from Joyce's past comes knocking, they are lured back to the world they left behind. Will the Mayhoods' goodwill be enough to steer their young apprentices away from danger, or will the darkness of their past catch up with them?

Benjamin Wood's first novel, The Bellwether Revivals, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and won Le Prix du Roman Fnac. A finalist for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, his other works have been shortlisted for the Encore Award, the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Prize for Literature. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at King's College London and lives in Surrey with his wife and sons.

Britain's answer to Donna Tartt * Sunday Times * Tense and full of menace -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * New Statesman, Books of the Year * Highly accomplished . . . It's idealistic, gripping and beautifully textured, moving with great power. It's rare to see such attention to character and setting, and I think Wood is one of Britain's best young writers -- Philip Womack * Spectator, Best Books of 2022 * This satisfyingly old fashioned- feeling novel from a youngish author strikingly conveys its 1950s rural setting, and has a grim pull of foreboding . . . Benjamin Wood's perspective-shifting novel weaves elements of thriller, romance and coming-of-age to gripping, memorable effect * Sunday Times, Best Books for the Year * A treat . . . Wood's daring narrative decisions show he hasn't lost the old spark, but has just added to it with his new repertoire. What, it asks, are the opportunities available to somoen who wants to leap clear of their wrong beginnings, when everything that hurts has already been cut? -- John Self * Critic, Fiction Books of the Year * Benjamin Wood knows how to generate tension, makes lively characters you can see and hear, and writes about rural England in a sensitive, considered way that doesn't stray into the nostalgic. A huge talent -- Hilary Mantel Wood is a seriously talented writer, able to enter the minds of his characters with eerie precision. The Young Accomplice is an involving tale of revenge and responsibility, which, while it devastates, also tells us that new lives can be built among the ashes * FT * [Wood's] best novel yet . . . [he] deserves to be far better known -- John Self * Irish Times, 2022 Books of the Year * A British novelist who deserves more attention than he has had . . . Wood blends storytelling punch with literary sensibility . . . The Young Accomplice shows the difference between a book that slides down the surface of things, and one that digs it claws into you and sticks there * The Times * Benjamin Wood is a beautiful writer and this is his best novel yet, both gripping and unputdownable. Like people in Thomas Hardy, his characters surge from the page, and the mystery unfolds with a sureness seldom seen in contemporary British fiction -- Andrew O'Hagan, author of Mayflies His most original [novel] yet . . . The Young Accomplice has already been compared to Thomas Hardy novels and there are echoes of Tess of the d'Urbervilles in the story of a vulnerable young woman whose past catches up with her. Wood is also wonderful on the intricacies of love and architecture as a means of enriching people's lives. It's a novel that feels as if it has been imagined with slow and tender care - and I suspect it will be cherished by readers for a long time * Sunday Times * With deceptive ease, the books weaves elements of crime, mystery, love story and coming of age . . . a well-wrought novel whose pleasure is in each careful scene, moment and sentence * Irish Times * Blown away by A Station On The Path To Somewhere Better . . . Dark and disturbing, but wise, moving and beautifully written. Am immediately going to seek out his other books now. What a writer -- Richard Osman on A Station On The Path To Somewhere Better Benjamin Wood is building a sublime body of work. This masterful, suspenseful novel is his best yet. It swallows you up. I love it -- David Whitehouse, author of About A Son A novelist to watch * The Times, on A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better * A resounding achievement . . . Rich, beautiful and written by an author of great depth and resource * Guardian, on The Ecliptic * Exhilarating, earthy, cerebral, frank and unflinching . . . A masterfully paced and suspenseful read * Independent, on The Ecliptic * Benjamin Wood knows how to generate tension, makes lively characters you can see and hear, and writes about rural England in a sensitive, considered way that doesn't stray into the nostalgic. A huge talent -- Hilary Mantel The Young Accomplice is finely constructed, with themes of wrongdoing and innocence woven naturally into the action. Benjamin Wood's attention to detail, his smooth writing style and his strong beliefs give the novel an unusual dignity * Times Literary Supplement *