The Benefactors

Wendy Erskine's first novel The Benefactors came to my attention because it's been longlisted for the £10,000 Gordon Burn Prize, a prize which recognises exceptional writing which has an unconventional perspective, style or subject matter and often defies easy categorisation. It celebrates literary outliers and daring and experimental work that often speaks to broader societal issues. In other words, exactly the kind of writing I like.

The Benefactors is a confronting novel. I am baffled by the blurber who said it was 'a joy to read'. It's a book that made me feel deeply sad about the lives of vulnerable young people today, and it roused a dark feeling of anger about power and privilege. And while there are funny moments, because show more Erskine has a great gift for characterisation and dialogue, it's not a funny book. It's a modern tragedy.

The novel takes a little time to get going while readers adjust to the polyphonic narration. There are no 'chapters' as such, there are multiple perspectives in segments of varying length. Very short segments with no identifiable narrator appear to be witness statements, social media chatter, gossip, the thoughts of random people who get involved like the taxi driver, and the responses of the professionals involved such as the police and lawyers. Readers piece events together from these and begin to see how judgements are formed. Longer segments introduce the main characters, and their back stories frame their responses to what's happened.

Misty and her half-sister Geneva (Gen) have been brought up by Boogie after their junkie mother offloaded them and walked away. He was barely out of his teens at the time, showing some promise as an artist and playing in a band, but he rose to the responsibility. They don't have much money and not much ambition, and Misty's future is clouded by the way she covertly supplements part-time work at a hotel with phone-sex work, but while it's definitely not an idealised poor-but-loving family, theirs is a family getting by with care and consideration for each other. It makes a stark contrast with the boys' families, and although it treads lightly on the issues surrounding kids who are not able to live with their own families, it also contrasts the outcomes of an informal 'adoption' with the outcomes for kids in care.

One of the short fragments features Frankie, musing about the money she spends on her step-children's clothes.

I can see why someone would look at a pair of Yeezys for a four-year-old kid, a few hundred pounds for what, a couple of months of wear, and think that it's madness. I get it. But at the same time, I've always made sure that my own kids have been dressed in proper gear. Branded sportswear. Everything has got a logo. More than that, I take great care that the clothes are kept good. It's because it was never that way for me when I was younger. It was never that way for me. (P.146)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2025/12/07/the-benefactors-2025-by-wendy-erskine-and-th... show less

Setting: Belfast, Northern Ireland

A young woman is sexually assaulted by three young men. She reports it to the police. There is an investigation.

The assault took place at a party. Misty, Chris, Lyness and Rami knew each other. She thought they were mates. What did actually happen? Can Misty get justice? Does she deserve justice or did she bring it on herself? The story is told from a number of viewpoints, in a mixture of third and first person narrative including Misty, the boys who attacked her, their families, police investigators, local gossips/commentators, and a follower of Misty through Benefactors (an Only Fans style social media account, one of her side hustles alongside a little cannabis dealing).

This story is very much about show more class and social status, as the young people's families get involved. The boys' mothers are less concerned about what happened than protecting their kids, managing the situation, damage limitation. Perhaps, though, they have underestimated Misty, her rather accidental stepdad, Boogie, who works as a Belfast taxi driver, and his grandmother.

There are so many voices here that I want to go back and work out all sorts of things that I missed totally or struggled to understand on first reading. There is a lot of humour in Wendy Erskine's treatment of several difficult subjects. And everything isn't tied up very neatly at the end.

This is a first novel but Wendy Erskine has previously published two collections of short stories - I have come across one or two in anthologies and I look forward to reading more of her work. show less

I did want to like this book more than I did. It’s a very topical story, set in Belfast, where apparently privileged mothers (thought that is not all it seems) protect their sons from an allegation of sexual assault by a girl from a lower social class. It hits a lot of hot button items of class, race, misogyny and privilege and gives a ‘cool teacher’ view of teenage sexual enterprise. Erskine dilutes the story by slicing and dicing the narrative of the protagonists and then dicing it up further with the narratives of characters on tangents and sidelines. Her prose does not differentiate sharply enough to make this anything more than confusing and a distraction from some very acute and interesting characterisation, but show more characterisation that is not given enough time and space to develop. show less

This was a fascinating and at times, heartbreaking, novel.

Bronagh, Miriam and Frankie all live in Belfast. Each has an eighteen year old son, who has taken part in sexually assaulting a young woman, Misty. Bronagh is married to Donal, and they have a son, Lyness or ' Line Up" . Bronagh is the CEO of a children's charity. Frankie grew up in care, and is married to a well off man, and is step mother to Chris. Miriam has recently been widowed, and is mother to Rami. When they find out that their sons' have sexually assaulted Misty, they gather together to protect their sons as best they can.

Young Misty has been brought up by her step father Boogie, abandoned by her drug addicted mother at a very young age. Boogie's mother, Misty's step show more grandmother, Nana D, does her best to see Misty's best interests are served. Though still in high school, and working part time at a hotel, she has secretly made money on the side. In a less than ideal way, Misty has worked doing phone sex.

There are multiple narrators, but for the most part I found it easy to identity them and keep track of who was who.

A thought provoking read, and highly recommended . show less