A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better
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- 5,49 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
From the 2025 Booker-longlisted author of Seascraper
'One of the finest British novelists of his generation' Times
'A huge talent' Hilary Mantel
'Benjamin Wood is a magnificent writer and I intend to read everything he has written' Douglas Stuart
'What a writer' Richard Osman
‘With his third novel, Wood’s talent has burgeoned spectacularly. The book is a tremendous achievement, an unputdownable domestic thriller that is also subtle and moving … travelling well beyond his earlier fiction, Wood has produced a tour de force that marks his creative arrival’ David Grylls, SUNDAY TIMES
‘A novel written from the gut, and with a correspondingly visceral power. A superbly unsettling account of trauma and cautious recovery’ SARAH WATERS
'Elegant and disturbing … this is a novel of expertly woven tension and frightening glimpses into the mind of the deranged other’ John Burnside, GUARDIAN
The acclaimed author of Seascaper, Benjamin Wood writes a novel of exceptional force and beauty about the bond between fathers and sons, about the invention and reconciliation of self – weaving a haunting story of violence and love.
For twenty years, Daniel Hardesty has borne the emotional scars of a childhood trauma which he is powerless to undo, which leaves him no peace.
One August morning in 1995, the young Daniel and his estranged father Francis – a character of ‘two weathers’, of irresistible charm and roiling self-pity – set out on a road trip to the North that seems to represent a chance to salvage their relationship. But with every passing mile, the layers of Fran’s mendacity and desperation are exposed, pushing him to acts of violence that will define the rest of his son’s life.
Praise for The Ecliptic, shortlisted for the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award:
'A resounding achievement . . . Rich, beautiful and written by an author of great depth and resource' Edward Docx, Guardian
'Full of suspense and beautifully written, superbly imagined and constructed . . . A terrifically gripping and playful book' Sunday Times
'Exhilarating, earthy, cerebral, frank and unflinching . . . A masterfully paced and suspenseful read' Independent
'A rich, intricate and layered work' Observer
'Haunts the imagination long after the final page' Independent on Sunday
'A gorgeous and harrowing work' Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A 12-year-old English boy's road trip with his father afflicts the rest of his life in Wood's uneven latest (after The Ecliptic). As a boy, narrator Daniel Hardesty is obsessed with the sci-fi show The Artifex. His father, Francis, estranged from his mother, is a set builder for the show in Leeds, and promises Daniel a studio visit. Francis is also a liar, and Daniel, now narrating as an adult and who hoards VHS tapes of the show, warns the reader that the trip went badly ("when I think about that August week and what transpired, I know it is the fault line under every forward step I try to make"), but it takes a while for the reader to find out just how disastrous. Along the way, Francis's temper and details of his philandering emerge, and he reacts violently when he and Daniel aren't allowed onto the studio lot. On the road, Daniel listens to an Artifex audiobook, and passages from it augment the narrative but add nothing. The novel's conclusion summarizes the immediate aftermath of Francis's actions and offers scattershot scenes from Daniel's adult life, but his soul-searching feels superficial. Before it's over, readers will find themselves searching for the remote.
