The Young Accomplice

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The truth is revealed sparingly, until we suddenly find ourselves no longer reading a psychological thriller but an action thriller, reminiscent of old British films. 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. 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 is a beautiful writer and this is his best novel yet, both gripping and unputdownable’ Andrew O’Hagan

An involving tale of revenge and responsibility, which, while it devastates, also tells us that new lives can be built among the ashes' FT 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 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. For the first quarter of this book, I sensed a mystery tugging at the periphery, but I couldn’t identify it, because of the hazy and sometimes dreamlike quality of the narrative, and the withholding of the book’s central focus. We are introduced to quite a few characters early on, in a secret, sequestered art colony on a Turkish island. Even getting there is fraught with secret code, from burning your passport, getting a Mission Impossible-ish direction to the island, and changing your name before you arrive. 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.

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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. And it will be interesting to learn what Claire’s connection to Nikki is. Meanwhile, on Young and the Restless, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) tries to fix things with Adam Newman (Mark Grossman). Elsewhere, Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) discusses something new with his ex, Heather Stevens (Vail Bloom). There’s a chance that he offers for her to bunk with him until she gets a new place. And critics Johanna Thomas -Corr and Max Liu join Chris to discuss their richly varied recommendations for summer reading. 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

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.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. 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. Set mainly over the second half of 1952, but with brief forays into the years before and after, the narrative follows the siblings after they are released from borstal and taken on as architectural apprentices by Florence and Arthur Mayhood. They live and work together on the Surrey farm where the Mayhoods’ idealistic practice is based: tilling lessons in the morning; draughting classes in the afternoon. A happy time is had for a while, until Mal Duggan reappears.