The Compound - by Aisling Rawle (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Love Island meets Lord of the Flies in this must-talk-about-it read, as bingeable as the best reality TV.

Lily--a bored, beautiful twenty-something--wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.

Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she'll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams--but what will she have to do to win?

Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.

Review Quotes

"A clever and delicious treat that's even more addicting than the reality television it lambastes . . . I dare you not to tear through The Compound at lightning speed."--Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl

"The Compound is a blistering takedown of reality TV in our capitalist world, where the gamification of love and power is sold as entertainment. Aisling Rawle masterfully ratchets up the stakes in this sinister and juicy read until the line between paradise and dystopia becomes dangerously blurred."--Michelle Min Sterling, New York Times bestselling author of Camp Zero

"The Compound is 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

"Innovative, captivating, and impossible to put down . . . an exquisitely entertaining look at escapism that simultaneously confronts the thing we're most desperately trying to escape: ourselves."--Leila Mottley, New York Times bestselling author of Nightcrawling

"I couldn't put The Compound down--it is that rare combination of propulsive and brilliant. I read it in one big gulp and then brought it up at two different dinners to talk about its mix of gender dynamics, capitalism, and power."--Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood

"In The Compound, Rawle has built an eerily familiar yet unparalleled landscape--one that expertly juggles the most gruesome and tender human traits--with page-turning, nail-biting force. Just like the reality shows we all can't stop watching, this book is utterly bingeable."--Olivia Gatwood, author of Whoever You Are, Honey

About the Author

Aisling Rawle was born in 1998, originally from a very small village in Leitrim in the west of Ireland, but now living in Dublin. She works as an English teacher in a secondary school. She loves working with kids, and teaches piano in her spare time. The Compound is her first book.