Wild Houses

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The remarkable, funny and thrilling debut novel from the acclaimed, prize-winning author of the short story collections, Young Skins and Homesickness

As Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, the simmering feud between small-time dealer, Cillian English, and County Mayo's fraternal 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 bruised, sullen, teenage brother - in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch. Jostled by his nefarious cousins, goaded by his dead mother's dog and struck by spinning lights, Dev is unwillingly 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.

The beautifully crafted, thrillingly-told story of two outsiders striving to find themselves as their worlds collapse in chaos and violence, Wild Houses is the long-anticipated debut novel from award-winning and critically-acclaimed short story writer, Colin Barrett.

©2024 Colin Barrett (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Colin BarrettDamian GildeaVintage Digital

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Literary Fiction

Small Town & Rural

World Literature

Funny

Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural World Literature Funny

Critic reviews

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

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

So consistently witty and inventive that one struggles to think of recent novels that could stand up to comparison

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Houses realises life in full and without pity... A palpable sense of human eccentricity, and endurance, is always there, just beneath the surface

Most relevant

Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses is beautifully written and vividly captures the atmosphere of small-town life in the west of Ireland. The narration is solid, but the choice of accents leaves much to be desired. Instead of an authentic Ballina/North Mayo sound, the reader inexplicably opts for a Limerick accent, which diminishes the authenticity of the dialogue. The distinct broad vowels of Ballina, which add so much character to local speech, are unfortunately missing.