The Wildelings cover art

The Wildelings

‘A deliciously dark psychological mystery’ IRISH TIMES

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Wildelings

By: Lisa Harding
Narrated by: Jessica Regan
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.27

Buy Now for £14.27

Bloomsbury presents The Wildelings by Lisa Harding, read by Jessica Regan.

A vivid and compulsive story of obsession, control and guilt, set in Nineties Dublin – perfect for fans of dark academia

'Arrives to fill the Secret History-shaped hole in your lives ... Gloriously entertaining’ Observer, Books to look out for in 2025
'A searing exploration into our deepest desires and insecurities. I adored it' Heather Darwent
‘I was gripped by this dark and thrilling fable’ Dominic West
‘I was hooked from the very start’ Rachel Joyce

____________________________________________________________

Jessica and Linda have been best friends since the first day of school. Both girls are from very different broken homes – and beautiful, wilful Jessica has always ensured their survival.

Now eighteen, the two girls have come to Wilde – an elite university in the heart of Dublin, far away from their troubled childhoods. Jessica thrives immediately, and, with the faithful Linda at her side, finds herself at the heart of a new circle of friends.

But then Mark enters the picture. A philosophy student a few years older than them, he has strange and compelling ideas about self-discovery. When Linda and Mark start dating, Jessica is disturbed by the change in her friend – and how quickly she seems to have fallen under this abrasive, charismatic man’s control.

It turns out that Mark’s influence is not limited to Linda alone; and Jessica soon finds out that her whole group of friends are keeping secrets for him – culminating in a terrible tragedy that strikes at the end of their first year.

Years later, Jessica is still grappling with her guilt over what happened at Wilde. And when Mark resurfaces, she knows she owes it to herself – and Linda – to set the record straight once and for all.©2025 Lisa Harding (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Suspense Thriller & Suspense Exciting
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

With pitch-pure dialogue, and a plot that weaves in and around the theatre until the edges of reality blur, Lisa Harding presents us with a psychologically gripping story about personal manipulation and the imbalance of power in intimate relationships. A powerful performance (JANE URQUHART)
Harding’s style of writing is direct and intense, giving her novel a raw and emotional tone. It’s a compelling read, one which will be hard to forget
A deliciously dark psychological mystery
Remarkable, shocking ... The characters all stayed in my mind long after I’d turned the last page
Lisa Harding is at her best when she is fearless. She writes with defiance and impudent energy, at the centre of which is care for a person's soul. And The Wildelings is alive with this. It's a carefully merciless portrait of what it's like to be in the thrall of parasitic charm, double-edged with warning: beware yourself, creative vampires, of those whose skins you leave empty (CYNAN JONES)
The Wildelings is a shiver-inducing delight. I found myself reading when I should have been doing a million other things, unable to tear myself away from these bewitching characters, Harding’s beautiful prose, and the prickly suspicion that a dark surprise was waiting for me on every page (LAUREN GRODSTEIN)
A spectacular tour de force
Propulsive, with echoes of Donna Tartt's The Secret History ... This is dark academia at its most gripping
The Wildelings is a darkly lyrical and compelling novel about power, obsession, and the fragility of intimacy. A thrilling excavation of the blurred lines between friendship and the more dangerous shadows of youth. Harding crafts a masterful study of vulnerability, control, and the uneasy art of self-reinvention. (ELAINE FEENEY)
Dark, blistering and full of theatrics, The Wildelings is an electric exploration of control, guilt, and one young woman’s fight to free herself. I was hooked from the very start (RACHEL JOYCE)
Fans of dark academia or Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, this one’s for you
Full of brooding menace ... A dark and riveting novel
A vicious, sardonic, cruel book...very dramatic ... I lapped it up (RYAN TUBRIDY)
Harding gives Jessica a self-excoriating, incisive, bitter, and evocative first-person voice. The Wildelings' inexorable plot is like the proverbial train wreck: shocking, electric, impossible to turn from. Its psychological tumult verges on horror. With this atmospheric roller coaster of a novel, Harding offers pulsing intensity, gut-wrenching emotional upheaval, and high drama in every sense
A story of obsession, control and guilt, set in 1990s Dublin ... Perfect for fans of dark academia and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
The Wildelings arrives to fill the Secret History-shaped hole in your lives ... Gothic and gloriously entertaining (Alex Preston)
All stars
Most relevant
Interesting to begin but just a bit too much of the same. In the end there isn’t much to the story. I found the intensity of feelings a little unconvincing. That’s spoiled the tale for me, somewhat. A great reading.

Ok but a bit long

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.