The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Rawle, Aisling. The Compound. HarperCollins, 2025. Kindle AZW file.

Lily woke up in a reality show compound with no memory of how she got there. Only Jacintha was in the bedroom. They met the other women — Susie, Eloise, Candice, Becca, Mia, Vanessa, Sarah, and Melissa — and found the house in disarray. The compound was surrounded by desert, and the rules prohibited talking about life outside the show, or past series. The women cleaned the house while waiting for the men to arrive. Lily compared herself to the others, believing Candice was the most attractive, and worried about her intelligence. The men did not arrive that night, causing concern.

The next day nine men — Tom, Andrew, Marcus, Sam, Carlos, Gav, Ryan, Seb, and Evan — arrived, sunburnt and exhausted, with Tom badly injured. One man had been lost in the desert, meaning one woman would be eliminated because the rules required contestants to share a bed with someone of the opposite sex each night or be banished at sunrise. Communal and personal tasks were given through screens, with rewards that grew more valuable as the show went on. At dinner, Lily talked with Ryan, who chose to share a bed with her, saving her from elimination. Melissa was gone the next morning.

The group completed more tasks, including holding their breath underwater for 60 seconds. Becca could not do it. Tom forced her underwater to complete the task, distressing her. That night Lily again stayed with Ryan but wondered if she should have pursued Sam instead. The contestants were offered a freezer in exchange for banishing someone and voted to banish Gav. With the women again outnumbering the men, one would be eliminated overnight. Lily received a personal task to talk to Sam in exchange for a necklace, but their conversation ended badly. She turned to Ryan, who reassured her and kissed her. Eloise was eliminated the next morning.

As food ran low, Andrew and Tom assigned roles, putting themselves in charge. Lily cleaned the kitchen with Becca. The group refused to banish someone for pasta but soon ran out of food. Lily, Sam, Ryan, and Jacintha caught and killed ducks, feeding everyone. Lily admired Sam’s skill. Hunger worsened. Seb was caught hoarding food from a personal task, and the group banished him in exchange for meat. They then banished Sarah for bread. The group agreed to temporarily banish someone into the desert for wood, and Susie drew the short straw. Susie returned from the desert burned and distressed. Susie became withdrawn, was voted off, and had to be forcibly removed; production staff appeared and took her away.

Lily’s personal task led her to catch Ryan having sex with Vanessa. During a group kissing task, Lily angrily kissed Ryan and then kissed Sam. Ryan confessed to sleeping with multiple women but claimed to love Lily. She refused to share a bed with him and organized votes to have him banished, succeeding by one vote. Lily suspected Becca had voted against her. Sam shared her bed and they had sex. Sam worried Lily slept with him only to avoid elimination, but she reassured him. Lily’s enjoyment of the compound grew as their relationship deepened. She was tasked with damaging another resident’s property and destroyed Tom’s record player after he admitted he’d slept with Mia as a personal task. Later, the producers overheated the hot tub, badly burning Tom as punishment for breaking the rules.

Tom discovered Lily broke his record player and attacked her. Sam intervened, and everyone was punished with a group penalty. That night, the compound caught fire, seemingly set by producers, destroying much of it and leaving it desolate. Lily felt guilty about destroying Tom’s record player and watched the compound fall into disrepair as morale declined. She feared Sam would want to leave, while she was determined to reach the final five. A task revealed Andrew had cheated on Candice, who then left voluntarily, leaving five contestants: Lily, Sam, Tom, Andrew, and Becca. Sam wanted to leave with Lily, but she refused, determined to win. Lily told him to leave without her, and he did.

The producers shut off the water. Becca revealed to Lily that she had hidden water in the maze and stayed there, asking Lily to bring her food so the men would weaken before the upcoming 100m race, where the loser would be eliminated. Tom and Andrew grew ill from dehydration while searching for Becca. Lily, less dehydrated thanks to Becca’s water, snuck out to bring her food, but Tom followed and attacked them. Andrew found them, angry about the water hoarding. He insisted they completed the race immediately to get the water turned back on.

In the race, Becca came last and was eliminated. Before leaving, she tried to strangle Tom but failed. Tom attacked her in response. Producers arrived, and Tom released her, warning her to leave immediately. The next morning, a loudspeaker announced the severely dehydrated Andrew had been removed for medical treatment, leaving only Lily and Tom in the compound. Lily and Tom shared dinner and revealed their personal histories. A task required them to guess the hours until Christmas; the loser would be banished. Lily lured wild dogs into the compound to terrify Tom, locked him out, and forced him to give his answer, after blinding him with kitchen cleaner. She won the task and walked the injured Tom to the boundary, sending him away.

Andrew returned, strangely cheerful about his treatment off-camera. He built a monument and suggested the audience wanted them to couple up. Lily resisted. One night, they were locked out and told to kiss; the kisser would win, the other be eliminated. Andrew handcuffed Lily and tried to force intervention by injuring himself, but no one came. In the morning, he asked Lily to kiss him so he could leave. She did, winning the show. Left alone, Lily was allowed to request anything she wanted, but soon grew bored. After receiving a phone, she called her mother, who revealed she had not followed the show and didn’t know if Lily was popular. Later, Lily received a voice note from Sam saying he loved and missed her. Lily requested a sled, loaded her prizes, and left the compound, heading into the desert.