The Compound Asks 'How Far We're Willing to Go to Have Nice Things' (Exclusive)

Reality TV turns toxic in this dark, satirical debut.

From new literary voice, Aisling Rawle, The Compound follows Lily, a contestant on a popular reality television show who competes in challenges for luxury goods while trying to outlast her housemates to win the ultimate prize. "As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation," the book's official synopsis reads. "When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur."

In an email conversation with PEOPLE, Rawle said she wanted The Compound to "ask the question of how far we're willing to go to have nice things — to closely follow a group of characters as they're forced to place a moral price on having a comfortable life."

"I'm hoping that readers enjoy following Lily and the other contestants of The Compound as they navigate the unforgiving world of reality television," added the Ireland native, who also teaches English to high school students.

In advance of its publication, read an exclusive excerpt from The Compound below.

Everyone knew how the big screen worked: it would detail daily instructions for all of us to carry out. We could only be rewarded if everyone took part. If successful, we would receive items for the compound: food, furniture, appliances or other things that would make our lives easier. There would additionally be Personal Tasks, which were detailed on our little screens; these rewards would benefit us individually. There was no limit to how many tasks you could complete on the big or little screens: every time one was completed, another one would appear. If it wasn't completed in a day, that reward was lost forever; a new task would appear the next morning.

The quality of the reward for each Communal Task depended on how well we executed the task, while the quality of the reward for a Personal Task, in addition, depended on how many people were remaining in the compound — the fewer people there were, the more valuable the reward.

It was one of the most entertaining parts of the show, actually: they pushed people into couples and otherwise tried to get you to forge relationships with the other residents, only to see if you were willing to sacrifice those same people in order to get better prizes. When there were 20 people, the rewards were pretty basic, but as the numbers dwindled, the rewards grew luxurious. In a previous year, a contestant who made it to the final pair got the actual dress that a famous actress had worn to an awards ceremony. Another time, the winner got a watch worth tens of thousands.

That was the other thing: if you won, you got unlimited rewards. Not all of them were as expensive as the watch, but once you were alone in the compound, you didn't have to complete a task to earn a reward — you just asked, and it soon appeared. Your other prize was the compound itself. You could theoretically stay for as long as you wanted, but generally, the winner gathered as many rewards as they could carry and left to enjoy their life of fame and further riches on the outside. The minute the last person left, the next group of contestants could enter.

On the big screen, it said, Task: Every boy and girl must discuss their previous relationships. Reward: Outdoor seating.

"Easy," Seb said. There was something about Seb that was easy to dislike. He was tall yet seemed to make an effort to take up more space than was necessary, slouching insolently as he sat, legs spread wide, arms draped behind him. As well as that, he had an annoying, moneyed accent and smirked when other people spoke.

"Did anyone check the little screens?" Mia asked. Several people started to move toward the changing area, but Candice said, "No one goes anywhere until we get this first task done. We need a place to sit." She was right: aside from the fact that seats seemed a necessary thing for civilized living, the ground was so hot. Those of us who had started to move toward their dressing room stopped when Candice said so.

We created a rotating line by the pool. The girls stayed in one place, while the boys moved to the girl to the left after two minutes. We had no clock or means of measuring time, so whatever girl was not speaking to a boy would call "switch" after counting two minutes.

We had been waiting for the boys for two days, but the reality of seeing them standing before us was jarring. Even the smallest of them, Evan, was taller than the tallest girl, and they varied in appearance — ranging from trim and toned to enormously, threateningly muscled. The girls had their backs to the pool, and I felt, as they stared baldly at us, that at any minute, the boys might either fall at our feet or launch us backward into the pool.

From the book THE COMPOUND: A Novel by Aisling Rawle, to be published on May 27, 2025, by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2025 by Aisling Rawle.