Wild Houses One of The Observer'S Debut Novels of 2024

<p><b>**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**</b></p><p><br><b>‘Sublime… A thrillingly moreish novel’ </b><i>SUNDAY TIMES</i><br><br><b>‘Beautiful…brings to life an entire world’ </b>SALLY ROONEY<br><br><b>A small-town feud. A madcap kidnapping. A wild weekend to change everybody’s lives…</b><br><br>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.<br><br> 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.<br><br> 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.<br><br><b>AN <i>OBSERVER</i> BEST DEBUT NOVELIST 2024</b><br><br><b>‘A whole world…is captured for the reader’<br> </b>COLM TÓIBÍN, author of <i>Long Island</i><br><br><b>‘One of the novels of the year’<br> </b><i>DAILY MAIL</i><br><br><b>‘A gift of true storytelling…Barrett’s talent burns up the page’</b><br>ANNE ENRIGHT, author of <i>The Wren, The Wren</i><br><br><b>‘A heartbreaker of a debut novel’<br> </b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i><br></p>