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Spectator
29 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Mothers' union: The Benefactors, by Wendy Erskine, reviewed
This blistering debut novel from the acclaimed short-story writer Wendy Erskine circles around a case of sexual assault, expanding into a polyphonic story that is at once an evocative fictional oral history of contemporary Belfast, a powerful depiction of trauma and a provocative exploration of social power dynamics. Erskine teases out narrative strands through a handful of characters' viewpoints and intersperses these with vignettes written in a first-person verbatim style from a wider cast. She has carefully selected her main parts. Alongside Misty, the assaulted teenager, the focus is on the three women whose 18-year-old sons were the perpetrators. There is Frankie, who has left a childhood in care, thanks to the appeal of her laboriously maintained appearance to her tech-millionaire husband; Miriam, who suffers a complicated grief that involves stroking mannequins; and Bronagh, who relishes the glamour of her role as CEO of a children's charity, while spoiling her only child. Misty's own mother is largely absent. Raised with her half-sister by her cab-driver stepfather, Misty hopes for a career in stage and special effects make-up, but is topping up her wages from a hotel restaurant with an account on Benefactors (also known as Bennyz), an OnlyFans-style website where people pay her for content. Erskine dexterously explores her characters' flaws and conflicts, while creating comedy through dialogue, as in this typical takedown of Bronagh as she describes Misty's Bennyz profile: 'It's quite ridiculous, but she calls herself Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Obviously trying to make herself sound like some Knightsbridge-dwelling It Girl.' 'She was a 19th-century poet,' Miriam says. 'Married to Robert Browning.' 'Oh. Well, you learn something new every day.' When Erskine first introduces us to the Benefactors website, it's via Misty, emphasising the painful clash of childhood with this adult world. For near-naked poses, 'she made sure that she moved her old cuddly toy off the bed, the one with the zip where she can put her pyjamas. Because, sad to say, that would attract the wrong crowd.' Misty goes on Bennyz after the sexual assault, where one of her regulars, Mike from Wyoming, says she should tell her mother, or the police. 'She'd never heard again from Mike, after that night. She thought he might have hung around to see how it had gone with the police. But he didn't.' Erskine shows that even the least demanding clients can scarcely be considered 'benefactors' in the literal sense of 'doing good'. The website is a metonym for Erskine's exploration of societal inequality, as she considers how much goodness is attached to giving money; who benefits from supposed acts of beneficence; and, crucially, whether it's possible for Misty to tilt the balance of power in her favour, against the three rich boys who assaulted her. The Benefactors is vital reading, both for its lively energy and its political weight.
Daily Mirror
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Largest-ever cast for an audiobook brought together for exciting new project
Writer Wendy Erskine's The Benefactors is one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year for 2025. Audiobook fans are in for a treat, as a cast of more than 30 narrators record this debut novel Irish writer Wendy Erskine 's debut novel has been hotly anticipated since it was snapped up by Sceptre in 24-hour pre-empt in September 2024. Centring around a sexual assault, the novel explores pushing family connections to their breaking point, the implications of wealth and class in contemporary Belfast. All of life is here in the pages of Erskine's The Benefactors, and so, it is no surprise that a polyphonic array of voices from the city appear in the audiobook, too. The main narrative is spread over five points of view, three of which are mothers whose sons have sexually assaulted a schoolfriend, Misty. Misty and her own step-father, Boogie's narratives bring the reader close to the horrors of seeking justice. But while this is a novel about a traumatic event, Erskine's style is to fuse humour and heart throughout. Publisher of The Benefactors Hodder & Stoughton commissioned its largest-ever cast for the audiobook. More than 30 narrators contributed to the audiobook, making it the largest cast to date for the publishers' audiobook production. Open casting submission sought to find voice-talent, which was then chosen by Erskine for inclusion in the audio-recording. As in the audio editions of her two short story collections, Erskine herself narrates the majority of the book. But interspersed between this through-line story of sexual assault in modern Belfast are more than 30 narrators. One of which is David Torrens, the owner of Belfast-based independent bookshop No Alibis, a stalwart in supporting the Irish writing community. The Benefactors is refreshing for its expansive narrative net it casts around the city. No city is defined by one event, and so too is Erskine's Belfast not solely focused on a sexual assault case. These narratives range from a woman seeking her long-lost son, and it going horribly wrong, to life amongst the dead in funeral parlours. Erskine told The Bookseller: 'The experience of this book moving from the page to audio was – and this is no exaggeration – wonderful. Right from the beginning, the approach was innovative and predicated on giving listeners the most authentic experience of the book. 'I was there for the recording of many of the monologues, most of which were done by people with no previous experience of that kind of thing and wow, what they brought to my words was beyond what I could possibly have anticipated.' Erskine burst onto the literary scene with her short story collection Sweet Home, published by the Stinging Fly and Picador in 2018. Her follow-up collection Dance Move was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. She has been listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award and the Edge Hill Prize. She was awarded the Butler Prize for Literature and the Edge Hill Readers' Prize. Taken as a whole, Erskine's works form a census of modern Belfast, taking in everything from conversations in hairdressers' salons to the aftermath of sexual assault.
