Wild Houses

Description

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.