The benefactors - Wendy Erskine

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL 2025

'
'The style of Woolf but the heart of Dickens . . . impressive'
Sunday Times

'Erskine's great gift is for character. Not a single figure in this novel feels contrived'
Guardian

'A writer of an unrivalled range of imaginative empathy'
Financial Times

'I couldn't put this book down'
Sheena Patel, author of I'm a Fan

'A powerful, moving, compelling, utterly enthralling debut'
Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13

'Perfectly pitched, surefooted, and charged with feeling'
Colin Barrett, author of Wild Houses

From the prize-winning author of Dance Move and Sweet Home, this is an astounding novel about intimate histories, class and money - and what being a parent means.

Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to 18-year-old boys.

Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care. Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children's services charity, loves celebrity and prestige. When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they'll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess. But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed.

Brutal, tender and rigorously intelligent, The Benefactors is a daring, polyphonic presentation of modern-day Northern Ireland. It is also very funny.