The Compound

‘Love Island meets Lord of the Flies – dark, thrilling, and delightfully twisted’ LOUISE O’NEILL

‘A debut so gripping and propulsive that it beats reality tv at its own game. Why watch TV when Aisling Rawle does it better?’ TORREY PETERS, author of Detransition, Baby

‘In the morning, the boys still had not arrived, and we started to worry.’

Lily wakes up in a compound in the middle of the desert, along with nine other women. All young, all beautiful, all keen to escape the grinding poverty, political unrest and environmental catastrophe of the outside world. Cameras track their every move, broadcasting to millions of reality TV fans.

Soon, ten men will arrive on foot – if they all survive the journey. By sundown on their first day together, each contestant must have chosen a bedmate of the opposite sex or risk immediate banishment. Tasks must be completed, and rewards won – group prizes to make the Compound habitable, and personal items – makeup, clothes, champagne – to make the residents more desirable to each other.

As the stakes rise, along with hunger and ambition, the true nature of each resident is revealed, and Lily finds it hard to distinguish between desire and desperation, friendship and bitter rivalry. If she makes it to the end she will win prizes beyond her wildest imaginings – but with the show’s producers seemingly inclined to turn a blind eye to violence and intimidation within the group in order to keep ratings high, is it worth it?

LOVE ISLAND meets LORD OF THE FLIES in this explosive, addictive debut novel, as bingeable as the best reality TV, with dark undercurrents of literary dystopia and consumerist satire.