The searing debut novel from the author of collections Young Skins and Homesickness, Wild Houses paints a visceral picture of gang warfare in County Mayo as two outsiders try to pick their way through a landscape of violence and revenge.
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024
Shortlisted for the Nero Debut Fiction Award 2024
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.
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9780224099851
Number of pages: 272
Weight: 379 g
Dimensions: 224 x 143 x 26 mm
This strange and beautiful novel brings to life an entire world. Wild Houses is a book not just to read but to live inside - Sally Rooney, author of Normal People
Colin Barrett quietly, insistently, writes so deeply into his characters you could reach out and touch them. Wild Houses is a gift of true storytelling and Barrett’s talent burns up the page - Anne Enright, author of The Wren, The Wren
Vivid, controlled, very funny, and very moving - Barrett has the kind of pure writing chops that are vanishingly rare - Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier
Wild Houses is a wonder of a novel - crackling with tension and gifted with fine, strong language. Colin Barrett is a superb storyteller, and this is a tale for the ages - Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13
Few people truly understand the deep tensions, traumas and banality of violence that can be found in small town life quite like Colin Barrett. Crime and the characters who commit it is his forte, but his writing is never less than masterful, and he sits squarely in the centre of a golden generation of new Irish writers - Benjamin Myers, author of Cuddy and The Gallow Pole
Colin Barrett proved with his short stories that he's not only one of the most stylistically gifted writers working now, but also one of the most generous. His first novel, Wild Houses, is deft, intricate, unique - restorative in its refusal to be anything but itself. Colin Barrett is a talent of the rarest kind - Nicole Flattery, author of Nothing Special
A brilliant novel... Wild Houses is swift, tender and honest. It's been a long time since I've been so worried, so heartbroken, so moved by a set of funny misfits. Barrett is one of our keenest observers of the miraculous amid the everyday and of the uncommon beauty of common things, the power of attention. When I finished this novel, I desperately wanted to call Dev, Doll, or Nicky, just to see if they were okay, to see if everything had turned out alright. - Brandon Taylor, author of The Late Americans
Vivid and wild, funny and chilling - Wild Houses is the business - Roddy Doyle, author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Wild Houses has a rare momentum that comes from the rhythms of the sentences, the vivid descriptions and the brilliantly chosen details. The momentum emerges also from the depth and complexity of the main characters and the wide sweep of the narrative. In a small town in the west of Ireland over a few days, a whole world, memorable and edgy, is captured for the reader - Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn
Wild Houses is a taut, brooding thunderstorm of a novel - Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul
I raced through Wild Houses, and as soon as I finished it I wanted to read it over again.
Wild Houses is led by a character driven and pacy plot, but isn’t without its moments of tenderness and contemplation. Colin...
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BARRETT’S MAYO IS NOT BIDEN'S
WILD HOUSES by Colin Barrett
The first time I saw a Mayo landscape was in the 1960’s, through the window of a rosary-praying hymn-singing pilgrimage - slooooow train to the village...
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Although I quite enjoyed this book, because of the excellent news paper reviews I was expecting more. The writing is sharp, the humour and dialogue very good, but it became
quite monotonous in places.
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