The Ecliptic

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

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award and the Encore Prize

'Stunning... Wood has created one of the most moving and human characters in recent fiction' Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

The mesmerising new novel from the acclaimed author of The Bellwether Revivals: a rich and immersive story of love, obsession, creativity and disintegration.

On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. Elspeth 'Knell' Conroy is a celebrated painter who has fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London; on the island, she spends her nights wrestling with her elusive masterpiece. Then a disaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge and disrupts its routines. He is plagued by nightmares that steer him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery: where did the boy come from, what is 'The Ecliptic', and how does it relate to their abandoned lives in England?

Praise for The Ecliptic:

'A novelist to watch' The Times 

'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