The Compound cover art

The Compound

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Compound

By: Aisling Rawle
Narrated by: Lucy Boynton
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 ** A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK **

‘Relentlessly gripping’ ABIGAIL DEAN

‘Menace-dipped’ THE TIMES

‘Thrilling and haunting’ NEW YORK TIMES

'Lord of the Flies meets Love Island’ LOUISE O’NEILL

‘Gripping and propulsive’ TORREY PETERS

‘THIS is the book to read this summer’ CECELIA AHERN

'Brilliant’ DAILY MIRROR

‘Written with total verve and delight’ STYLIST

You wake up in a compound in the middle of the desert, with nine other women.

All of you are young, beautiful, and keen to escape the catastrophe of the outside world.

Cameras broadcast your every move to millions of reality TV fans.

Soon, ten men will arrive on foot – if they survive the journey.

What will you do to win?

And what happens to the losers?

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– READERS ARE GRIPPED

‘Ok I seriously loved this. The story is so addictive. There are sudden twists, simmering uneasiness and a wholly fitting ending that has stayed with me since I finished reading it’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Deliciously dark, this was a real page turner that I couldn't wait to get back to each night' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘There aren't many books that I would want to read twice, but this is one of them' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A fun beach read, perfect for the summer' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I absolutely inhaled this. What a read. Materialism, wealth, love… Wow. So original and well written' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

©2025 Aisling Rawle (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers Contemporary Dystopian Editors Select Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Exciting Witty

Editorial Review

An unputdownable listen to devour seaside
Fans of bingeable reality TV and speculative fiction alike will find themselves gripped by the premise of Aisling Rawle's debut. Our beautiful heroine Lily wakes inside "the compound"—the remote desert set of a blockbuster reality show—where she must compete against 18 other contestants to earn both prizes and the right to stay. Amidst the romance and machinations, there's also this mysterious, niggling sense that just maybe beyond the borders of their titular home, there's an apocalyptic event on the horizon. Beyond that unnerving mystery, the combustion engine at the heart of this stylish story is Rawle's nuanced understanding of the motivations at play when beautiful people rank themselves against one another. She renders them far more human and tangible than the show producers ever would. It was enough to make this listener wonder if the author herself had ever enjoyed a stint of temporary fame; but it's more likely that—as a secondary school teacher by trade—Rawle knows better than most the feeling of sharks swarming. —Emily C., Audible Editor

All stars
Most relevant
Felt like young adult fiction, although not marketed as that. Story interesting enough to keep listening but doesn’t really go anywhere, but I do feel I was not the intended audience. Narrator was good.

Interesting enough

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have never watched Love Island or those sort of shows but was drawn to this and glad I was. The pace, the narration were compelling, i was engaged throughout the story. Loved it.
.

Compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed this debut novel, dark, dystopian. Looking forward to what is next from the author

Big Brother meets Hunger Games meets Love Island

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The performance / narration is very good. The story is interesting but could have achieved the same effect in less time. The main character isn’t always very likeable and so it’s difficult to keep rooting for her and at times she comes as across as incredibly annoying and vacuous.
All in all, I just wanted it to be better.

A long journey that doesn’t really go anywhere

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Whilst the story was engaging, I was expecting a twist or for a better explanation as to what the show was, or why they were there. This was just a narration of Big Brother on steroids. Disappointed at the ending, I wanted more.

Good narrative but no twist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews