The Compound
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Aisling Rawle
About this listen
‘Love Island meets Lord of the Flies – dark, thrilling, and delightfully twisted’ LOUISE O'NEILL
'So gripping and propulsive that it beats reality tv at its own game. Why watch TV when Aisling Rawle does it better?' TORREY PETERS
'A clever and delicious treat' ZAKIYA DALILA HARRIS
'Page-turning, nail-biting… utterly bingeable' OLIVIA GATWOOD
‘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.
©2025 Aisling Rawle (P)2025 HarperCollins PublishersCritic reviews
Love Island meets Lord of the Flies – dark, thrilling, and delightfully twisted' LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol
'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
'A clever and delicious treat that’s even more addictive than the reality television it lambasts… I dare you not to tear through The Compound at lightning speed' ZAKIYA DALILA HARRIS, bestselling author of The Other Black Girl
'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
'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
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