Wild Houses
Discover the thrilling debut novel from the award winning Irish author
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- €0.99
Publisher Description
**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**
**WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2024**
‘Beautiful…brings to life an entire world’ SALLY ROONEY
‘Sublime… A thrillingly moreish novel’ SUNDAY TIMES
It’s the biggest weekend of the year and everything is about to change…
In Ballina, the simmering feud between small-time drug-dealer Cillian English and County Mayo’s enforcers, Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, spills over into violence and an ugly ultimatum. Soon the reclusive Dev and Cillian’s teenage brother Doll are drawn headlong into the Ferdias’ revenge fantasy. Meanwhile, Doll’s girlfriend Nicky sets out on a feverish mission to save him.
Life in this ordinary town will never be the same again…
AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST
SHORTLISTED FOR IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2025
‘A whole world is captured for the reader’ Colm Tóibín
‘As sharp, funny and bitingly bittersweet as life’ Booker Judges, 2024
‘A gift of true storytelling’ Anne Enright
‘A heartbreaker of a debut’ New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Barrett's splendid debut novel (after the collection Homesickness) wraps a taut crime story around a fascinating set of character studies. In County Mayo, Ireland, 20-something Dev Hendrick has an agreement with Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, weed-dealing brothers who stash their product at his late mother's house. His loyalty is tested after the Ferdias show up with a teen named Donal "Doll" English, whom they've kidnapped and expect Dev to shelter until they receive an overdue payment from Doll's older brother. Barrett replays the night of Doll's capture and following three days of captivity in alternating perspectives, primarily Dev's and that of Nicky Hennigan, Doll's girlfriend who was with him at the party from which he disappeared after they had a drunken fight. Nicky, a 17-year-old bartender with plans to go to college, assumes Doll abandoned her, and vacillates from concern to anger as she wonders if there's room in her future for him. As Doll pleads with Dev to let him go, and after Nicky learns of Doll's predicament, Barrett maps the contours of their inner worlds in dizzying and richly textured detail. Even as Barrett ramps up the suspense, the reader has little doubt as to who these characters really are. This is a knockout.
