The ‘seacraper’ of the title is Thomas Flett and, sometime in the early 1960s, he makes a living collecting brown shrimp from the mudflats of a Northern estuary. Following on in this work from his father, he is one of the last of the horse-drawn scrapers in an area of work which is becoming increasingly mechanised. It is hard, poorly paid work without much future, and a poor life at home with only his mother for company offers little compensation.

Then, he meets Edgar Acheson from ‘Hollywood’ who is keen to use the beach as a setting for a film and needs Tom’s help. Their relationship develops, although the plans come to nothing in strangely unexpected ways – yet Thomas benefits.

It’s a short book, a novella really, and gives an extended elegiac account of a type of fishing set in the past with no future, and set against an impoverished location which is oddly beautiful. It is the slow evocation of a lifestyle, atmospherically described which gives the book its strength.

Thomas never knew his father but there are strange glimpses of him throughout the novel and even an almost ghostly encounter. It is all quite extraordinary but it leaves Thomas with a love of guitar playing and folk music.

It’s a wonderful read and highly recommended!