Riveting . . . a polyphonic drama of money and class . . . Erskine's eye for detail keeps us rapt -- Anthony Cummins, 10 Best Debut Novelists for 2025 * Observer *
A cacophony of voices meet in The Benefactors in connected and often seemingly utterly disconnected ways, all of them given Erskine's trademark attention to character, all of them like mini short stories of their own . . . the success of The Benefactors is the way it treads across familiar fare . . . and tackles them in surprising ways -- Marie-Claire Chappet, 5 Debut Female Authors to Read in 2025 * Harper's Bazaar *
A truly special author - so special that you want to keep her for yourself . . . with a voice that is crystal clear and a viewpoint that takes in the world's cruelties and joys, Erskine's talent shines in The Benefactors . . . one of [Ireland's] finest contemporary writers -- Aoife Barry * Irish Independent *
I'm already hooked -- Laura Hackett * Sunday Times *
The dialogue and the descriptive prose, showing the inner and outer worlds of the novel, are extraordinary. I think this will be one of the most admired and talked-about books this year -- Adrian Duncan * Irish Times *
I couldn't put this book down.,Wendy has skilfully written herself out of the story completely, her hand has disappeared. As a reader, you are totally transported into these characters lives. They are living people and I missed them when I finished -- Sheena Patel, author of I'm a Fan
Deftly tackle[s] dark subject matters -- Brendan Corbett * Sunday Times *
Debut novel by the acclaimed short-story writer about class and family in Northern Ireland -- The Books to Look Forward to in 2025 * Guardian *
Wendy Erskine's writing is inimitable - so fresh, so sharp, so wry, so alive; so much contemporary fiction feels flat and fake in comparison. In all of its glorious polyphony, The Benefactors brims with humanity. It's got snap, it's got sparkle, it's got soul. All of Belfast is here, all of life. I adored it. -- Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days
An excellent novel, all those voices so vivid and precise, appropriately startling at times and incredibly smart and timely on class and privilege -- David Nicholls, author of You Are Here
A truly remarkable novel - The Benefactors is both intimate and panoramic, full of clear-eyed compassion and wry wit, and with a cast of characters so vividly drawn it feels like you've known them all your life. This is powerful, masterful storytelling by one of the most exciting writers at work today -- Colin Walsh, author of Kala
The Benefactors is fantastic. It's really stuck with me since I finished it -- Colin Barrett * Observer *
A powerful, moving, compelling, utterly enthralling debut novel from the excellent Wendy Erskine. The Benefactors follows the fallout from one young woman's awful experience of the young men around her, and explores the many ways in which lies are told, perpetuated, and excused. Wendy Erskine understands young people in all their complicated awfulness and brilliance, and the way she inhabits and carries such a range of troubled voices in this novel is a wonder. We're all better off for being able to read a novel as rich as this -- Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13
'Wendy Erskine is off doing her own, consummate thing. The Benefactors is a novel as perfectly pitched, surefooted, and charged with feeling as her gleaming, precise stories -- Colin Barrett, author of Wild Houses
Wendy Erskine flourishes her captivating style in The Benefactors, with a depth of insight which at times feels like epiphany. Erskine actualises riveting, propulsive humanity in this mosaic of a community,