Wood’s unnerving fourth novel follows young siblings from borstal to living on a farm in 50s England. As a portrait of youthful mistakes and adult blindness, The Young Accomplice is both tender and cutting; it is often subtle and occasionally thrilling. Christopher Shrimpton, Guardian Siblings Joyce and Charlie Savigear are 'rescued' from their Borstal sentences by married architects Arthur and Florence Mayhood, who run their architectural practice from a Surrey farm, which they plan to be self-sufficient - and they also seek a couple of apprentices to work with them, both on the farm and in their architectural practice. The Mayhoods are both keen followers of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his Taliesin community in Arizona and Arthur, having ended up in Borstal himself when he was a teenager, wishes to give Joyce and Charlie the chance to make something of themselves. Both have been selected following a drawing competition run in conjunction with the various Borstals by Arthur and Florence, where they both showed promise. 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.

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 Artists at Portmantle live there all expenses paid, though not in luxury, until they finish a new work. It is an insular existence framed by strict rules while putting no time limit on any given artist to produce something he or she feels good about sending out into the world. But when that happens, the artist must leave. Benjamin Wood i s in the prime of his writing life, yet few people outside the literary world have heard of this 41-year-old writer from Merseyside.In his thirties he produced three richly layered novels that deftly combined complex ideas with psychological suspense. He has earned comparisons to Donna Tartt and John Fowles, but when it comes to literary prizes he is often the shortlistee and rarely the winner. Perhaps it’s because his fiction has a maturity and restraint that feels a little old-fashioned compared with his brasher contemporaries. His fourth novel, The Young Accomplice, set in the 1950s, is his most original yet ...Wood is a master of enchantment and unease...With its themes of fatalism and revenge, The Young Accomplicehas 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. Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday TimesEnter Joyce and Charlie Savigear – siblings in their late teens – who win the Mayhoods’ drawing competition for borstal kids with an eye for design. If I had to compare it to something? Station Eleven, and not just because a comic book plays a pivotal part. While reading both books I really savoured the style - yet again I want to use the words 'elegant' and 'restrained'; the characters are centre stage, their development the most important thing in the novel despite the often-dramatic, potentially complicated story in which they are placed; style-wise there is nothing over the top here, nothing that really plays with conventional language, but it's intelligent, powerful, and always has that odd little edge of implied strangeness that suggests there's something more to all of this than meets the eye - something just out of reach. (Though I should mention that The Ecliptic is definitely not dystopian or sci-fi or post-apocalyptic.) Benjamin Wood’s fourth novel is a reflective tale that seems only mildly tense when compared to the harrowing drama of A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better. In 1952, young siblings Charlie and Joyce Savigear have just been released from borstal; they join a rural architectural practice, Leventree, as apprentices. Leventree is the idea of architects Arthur and Florence Mayhood, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin as well as Arthur’s redemption after his own youthful period of incarceration. At first, all seems well. But soon Joyce is dragged into a criminal scheme by an old acquaintance, threatening the tenuous peace of this makeshift family.

As a portrait of youthful mistakes and adult blindness, THE YOUNG ACCOMPLICE is both tender and cutting..." - The Guardian 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

Young and the Restless Spoilers Next Two Weeks: Claire Grace Attacks Nikki

thriller, romance and coming-of-age to gripping, memorable effect Sunday Times, Best Books for the Year Claire sits by her bedside looking sinister as she tells her to have sweet dreams — while she still can. No doubt, it seems she wants to kill Nikki, but she has other plans first. This storyline is getting good. It is about the lives of contemporary artists, a painter, a novelist, a playwright, and an architect. These four characters reside in an artist colony on a Turkish island. Becoming a resident involves a torturous path to acceptance but one requirement is that the artist must have had success and then somehow lost the muse of inspiration. When sixteen-year-old Joyce Savigear absconds from work to go out with a man she barely knows, she hopes a new, exciting life is just beginning. Does it spoil your enjoyment of a novel when you predict the outcome of The Big Twist? It does for me. And I'm sorry to say I figured out the secret that The Ecliptic hides long before its eye-catching finale. But there is still plenty to admire in this ambitious, intricate and intelligent novel.

Indeed, Wright’s words provide the preface: “To see a failure changed to a success – there is what I call Education.” As a portrait of youthful mistakes and adult blindness, The Young Accomplice is both tender and cutting; it is often subtle and occasionally thrilling. If, at times, the mechanics of plot carry us away from the more grounded human emotions Wood has cultivated, it is no great matter. Some lessons are just worth hearing. Exhilarating , earthy, cerebral, frank and unflinching . . . A masterfully paced and suspenseful read' - Independent, on The EclipticWhile Joyce (the elder of the two) is rather sly and outspoken, Charlie is much quieter – a diligent young man who seems eager to learn. He responds well to the expectations set by the Mayhoods, contributing to the farm labour alongside his architectural training. In truth, there is something of the young Arthur in Charlie Savigear, a gentleness combined with curiosity and determination, qualities that Florence detects and hopes to nurture.

A novel about architecture, ambition, crime and guilt. It takes place in the early 1950s, and is set mainly on the Surrey farm where Arthur and Florence Mayhood are attempting to set up both an architect’s practice and a self-sufficient commune. Their inspiration is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Wisconsin, but their community has only two members, brother and sister Joyce and Charlie Savigear, young offenders recently released. Through dramatic time jumps and a sure ear for dialogue, Wood builds up convincing levels of psychological depth in all the main characters. Arthur is saintly in his determination to see good in everyone, and to rise above a major disability. Florence is his loyal, pragmatic companion, prepared to act also as driver and mechanic. Charlie is determined to overcome all obstacles to make it as an architect, and such is his practicality and willingness to learn, that we suspect he will. His older sister Joyce, six foot tall and immensely strong, has however come to the commune with hidden motives. 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 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 This satisfyingly old-fashioned-feeling novel from a youngish author strikingly, sure-footedly 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. Patricia Nicol, Sunday TimesBest Books of 2022 I don't know how I heard about this book. It was just published in the United States in May (Benjamin Wood is British) and as I recall, I read a review or two and instantly requested it at the library. I loved it completely.Wood writes with superb attention to detail and authenticity. My only question is why the Mayhoods are shown to have a diesel-powered ‘wagon’ at a time when all but the heaviest goods vehicles would have used petrol engines. 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." - Financial Times