The Benefactors with Wendy Erskine

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.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.Wendy Erskine has written two collections of short stories, Sweet Home and Dance Move. She has also edited an anthology about art in the home called well I just kind of like it. She has been longlisted and shortlisted for many awards including the Edge Hill Prize, The Gordon Burn Prize and The Sunday Times Short Story Prize, among others. A frequent broadcaster and interviewer, she has been a Seamus Heaney Fellow at Queen's University. She is a head of department in a Belfast secondary school.