Wild Houses

**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**

'Sublime... A thrillingly moreish novel' SUNDAY TIMES

'Beautiful...brings to life an entire world' SALLY ROONEY

A small-town feud. A madcap kidnapping. A wild weekend to change everybody's lives...

As Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, 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.

When the reclusive Dev answers his door on Friday night he finds Doll - Cillian's teenage brother - in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch. Jostled by his nefarious cousins and goaded by his dead mother's dog, Dev is drawn headlong into the Ferdias' revenge fantasy.

Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Nicky can't shake the feeling something bad has happened to her boyfriend Doll. Hungover, reeling from a fractious Friday night and plagued by ghosts of her own, Nicky sets out on a feverish mission to save Doll, even as she questions her future in Ballina.

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST 2024

'A whole world...is captured for the reader'
COLM TOIBIN, author of Long Island

'One of the novels of the year'
DAILY MAIL

'A gift of true storytelling...Barrett's talent burns up the page'
ANNE ENRIGHT, author of The Wren, The Wren

'A heartbreaker of a debut novel'
NEW YORK TIMES

Review: Sublime... Wild Houses is a thrillingly moreish novel with some of the sharpest dialogue I've read in any recent debut and characters who held me captive until the very last page * Sunday Times *
A delicate and beautiful book about the lives of lonely people... Page after faultless page, Wild Houses is a sheer joy to read... Colin Barrett's the real deal, but then we knew that already * Irish Times *
So consistently witty and inventive that one struggles to think of recent novels that could stand up to comparison * Guardian, *Book of the Day* *
With a thrillerish intensity... Barrett expertly handles the combination of narrative-driving dialogue, exhilarating action scenes and quieter moments designed to build tension... I was unable to put Wild Houses down * Times Literary Supplement *
After years of short stories, Barrett's transition to the longer span of the novel is confidently done. Descriptive set pieces are linked and expanded, yet every paragraph is created with care * Financial Times *
You'll love Colin Barrett's debut novel... Barrett has a keen ear for the absurd that held me captive until the very last page * Sunday Times *
With two collections behind him, Barrett is well established as a master both of the short story and the sentence; his debut novel confirms and extends all his promise. Wild Houses is a propulsive, darkly comic and superlatively written account of frustration and misadventure in a small Irish town... The connections between the cast and the past tragedies that have forged them are expertly revealed in a slow-burn study of character and fate that's also an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Violence and farce mingle in a novel that feels as sharp, funny and bitingly bittersweet as life -- Booker Judges, 2024
Barrett's superb debut novel deepens the world of his two short-story collections... The novel has the tension of a gritty noir thriller and the comic menace of a Pinter play * New Statesman *
Barrett can sustain a narrative across a novel without sacrificing the panache and precision that has made him one of the most stylish fiction writers at work today. His prose is a delight from the first page * i *
Wild Houses realises life in full and without pity... A palpable sense of human eccentricity, and endurance, is always there, just beneath the surface * Daily Telegraph *
Until now, Colin Barrett has made his name as an artist of the short story... Wild Houses is a delight, with a wider space for his talent to spread and for his acutely observed characters to linger * Spectator *
This strange and beautiful novel brings to life an entire world. Wild Houses is a book not just to read but to live inside -- Sally Rooney, author of Normal People
Sharp and affecting, expansive and playful, Barrett has written a gorgeous novel filled with gorgeous sentences. A dream to read, and no doubt destined to be one of the novels of the year -- Michael Magee, author of Close to Home
Colin Barrett quietly, insistently, writes so deeply into his characters you could reach out and touch them. Wild Houses is a gift of true storytelling and Barrett's talent burns up the page -- Anne Enright, author of The Wren, The Wren
Vivid, controlled, very funny, and very moving - Barrett has the kind of pure writing chops that are vanishingly rare -- Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier