The Young Accomplice

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On the island, we are introduced primarily to a novelist, a playwright, an architect, and a painter, each with their own quirky dispositions. They have been here in Portmantle for ten years, and are awaiting arrival of a new resident, a 17-year-old boy whose presence clearly intrigues and also shakes up the artists’ lassitude.

But, two years later, she is waiting on a railway station in the tranquil English countryside. It's the summer of 1952 and she and her younger brother Charlie have just been released from borstal. Another fresh start awaits - but can Joyce ever outrun the darkness of her past? Was this how it was going to be for ever? Wrapping things for customers in womenswear, no conversation. Polishing the counters so her face reflected in the brass and sweeping floors at closing time until the boss said she could leave. How much worse off would she be if she went driving with a stranger for a while?' Benjamin Wood's The Young Accompliceis a treat for those who have followed his career ... Its greatest quality is its understanding of how characters exist only in relation to one another. Each pairing gives us a new angle, and added depth, with the clarity of a diamond. 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 someone who wants to leap clear of their wrong beginnings? John Self, The Critic Best Books of the Year 2022

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A many-layered story of old-fashioned virtue and ambition, anaccount of the practicalities of “a campaign for a better life”. The Young Accomplice isfinely constructed, with themes of wrongdoing and innocence wovennaturally into the action. Its evocation of an ostensibly decorous postwar world full ofcontradictions is convincing throughout. Benjamin Wood’s attention to detail, his smoothwriting style and his strong beliefs give the novel an unusual dignity, in keeping with the eraof its setting. TLS 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." - TLS

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 And that's all I can say about the plot. Anything more is going to spoil major revelations that come in several bursts, upending each other, in the final quarter of the book, and while telling you what they are might not actually spoil your enjoyment - because it's all so beautifully written and beautifully crafted regardless, and this is a story that has twists rather than relying on them - I think it's better if you don't know. Benjamin Wood is the literary world’s best kept secret — but that’s about to change… Wood is 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.” - The Sunday Times

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When a star dies it swells to a shimmering mass, collapses in on itself, and eventually bursts outward. That is an apt metaphor for my brain while reading THE ECLIPTIC. 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