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The Compound

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The Compound

By: Aisling Rawle
Narrated by: Lucy Boynton
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About this listen

** A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK **

‘Lord of the Flies meets Love Island – 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

'THIS is the book to read this summer… 10 out of 10' CECELIA AHERN

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

All of you are young, all beautiful, all keen to escape the grinding poverty, political unrest and environmental catastrophe of the outside world.

You realise that cameras are tracking your every move, broadcasting to millions of reality TV fans.

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

What will you have to do to win?

And what happens to the losers?

The Compound is an addictive literary satire on modern excess: it holds a twisted mirror up to our obsession with winning, losing and, above all, watching.

©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

Critic Reviews

'Lord of the Flies meets Love Island – dark, thrilling, and delightfully twisted' LOUISE O'NEILL

'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

'THIS is the book to read this summer. Exceptional, I was riveted from the first page and couldn’t put it down. Easily one of my favourite novels I’ve read this year… 10 out of 10' CECELIA AHERN

'This menace-dipped novel is an unsparing take on how much we are being commodified in this social media age of consumerism and manipulation' THE TIMES

'Written with total verve and delight… definitely a name to watch' STYLIST

'An Animal Farm for our age of relentless materialism' NEW YORK TIMES

'As addictive as the shows it satirises, and so relentlessly gripping that its cleverness sneaks up on you… You'll be petitioning Rawle for another season' ABIGAIL DEAN

'Sinister in all the best ways’ ELLE

'Twisty, satirical… delivers on its binge-worthy premise with romance and betrayal' MAIL ON SUNDAY

‘Smart and provocative… thrilling and haunting’ NEW YORK TIMES Book Review

'A brilliant debut, with some unexpected twists, a simmering uneasiness and an ending I've thought about since I finished reading it’ DAILY MIRROR

'Innovative, captivating, and impossible to put down' LEILA MOTTLEY

'A fresh, original debut, searing in its interrogation of modern life, utterly engrossing, everyone should read it. I loved it' ANDREA MARA

'Riveting and deeply unsettling… a book for our times: I flew through it and kept thinking about it long after the last page' JANELLE BROWN

'A clever and delicious treat that’s even more addictive than the reality television it lambasts… I dare you not to tear through at lightning speed' ZAKIYA DALILA HARRIS

'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
All stars
Most relevant  
I couldn’t stop listening — I was hooked and just had to know how it all ended! The story was amazing. I only wish the author had given us a bit more depth on the characters so we could really connect with them on a deeper level. I’d love to see this turned into a movie!

Addictive!

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This book was so disappointing. Methodical plot, humorless and two dimensional and there were no redeemable characters.

Lead character a drip

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