WILD HOUSES

One of the Observer''s Debut Novels of 2024** A small-town feud. A madcap kidnapping. A wild weekend to change everybody’s lives...

‘Sublime… [Wild Houses is] a thrillingly moreish novel… and held me captive until the very last page’ Sunday Times ''Strange and beautiful... A book to live inside'' SALLY ROONEY, author of Normal People ''A gift of true storytelling... Barrett''s talent burns up the page'' ANNE ENRIGHT, author of The Wren, The Wren 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. 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.