Harding, Lisa: The Wildelings

‘A shiver-inducing delight‘ LAUREN GRODSTEIN ‘A dark and thrilling fable ‘ DOMINIC WEST ‘A campus novel with a twist‘ ROISÍN O‘DONNELL ‘Gloriously entertaining‘ OBSERVER ‘I adored it‘ HEATHER DARWENT ‘I was hooked from the very start‘ RACHEL JOYCE ‘Deliciously dark‘ IRISH TIMES A girl so desperate to belong that she lets herself be remade. Jessica and Linda have been inseparable since childhood. At Wilde, an elite Dublin university, they arrive determined to remake themselves. Jessica, her fierce ambition set on the theatre, is used to leading. Linda, more fragile, follows. But when they meet Mark, an older student with a magnetic presence, the balance between them begins to shift. Linda becomes Mark‘s girlfriend, then his project. Jessica becomes his actress, her ambition pulling her deeper into his orbit. Under Mark‘s influence, reshaped by his attention, old loyalties between the girls begin to fracture. By the end of that year, under the sway of his influence, a line is crossed that leads to devastating consequences. A compulsive and gripping story about exploitation and control , toxic female friendship , desire and shame , The Wildelings is your next dark academia obsession .