Our Last Wild Days
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  • Published: 24 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9780857527400
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $50.00
Categories:

Our Last Wild Days

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
23 Apr 2025
EBook
24 Apr 2025
Audiobook
24 Apr 2025
Hardback
24 May 2025
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All the Colours of the Dark meets Where the Crawdads Sing in this beautiful, propulsive thriller from the author of Sunday Times bestseller Tall Bones.

For fans of All the Colours of the Dark and Where the Crawdads Sing, a beautiful atmospheric thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones

THE TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH

'Propulsive, bold and brutal...A truly atmospheric thriller.' Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark

'Bewitching... thought provoking, character driven crime fiction.' Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

‘Sublime. The best thing I’ve read in ages.’ Will Dean, bestselling author of The Chamber

_______

The Labasques aren’t like other families.

Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want living on your doorstep.

So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother.

Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed everything she valued most. Now, there may be no way for her to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution, if she can find out what really did happen to Cutter...

Set against the haunting beauty of Southern Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is a compulsive, evocative novel about a tight-knit community and the secrets they want to keep hidden.

‘What lifts Anna Bailey’s marvellous second novel is the hothouse lyricism of their writing, which is as lush as the setting’ The Times Book of the Month

‘A brooding, evocative novel’ i paper best new crime and thriller books

‘The author hit the Sunday Times bestseller list with their debut… and I’m certain this will follow’ Prima

‘A remarkable job of conjuring up the haunted swamplands of southern Louisiana…A particularly spicy gumbo of a thriller’ Daily Mail

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WHAT READERS & AUTHORS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR LAST WILD DAYS:

'A masterpiece...you will be hooked!' 5-star reader review

'A sweltering fever dream of a novel – brimming with atmosphere, tension, and a truly unforgettable cast of characters.' Colin Walsh, bestselling author of Kala

'If you like Chris Whitaker (another Brit who does small-town America so well) this is for you' 5-star reader review

'The heat and humidity sink into your bones as you are sucked into the lives of the people of the backwaters' 5-star reader review

'With a setting as atmospheric as Where the Crawdads Sing...a stunningly written thriller' Nikki Smith, author of Look What You Made Me Do

'A brooding atmosphere with loads of twists along the way that will keep you guessing' 5-star reader review

'Exquisite. A rare, extraordinary talent' C.J.Cooke, bestselling author of The Lighthouse Witches


'Every page is enthralling and to be read with your breath held against what's coming next.' 5-star reader review

'Likely to be one of my books of the year' 5-star reader review

'Filled with lines worth tattooing and passages worth framing.' Megan Collins, author of Cross my Heart

'Anna Bailey is the master of things that move in the dark, with language so lush you feel like you could reach out and touch it' Hayley Scrivenor, bestselling author of Dirt Town

'Raw and unflinching...a stunner.' Ashley Winstead, author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour

'I didn't want this one to end...a perfect crime thriller' 5-star reader review
  • Published: 24 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9780857527400
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $50.00
Categories:

About the author

Anna Bailey

Anna Bailey was born in Bristol in 1995 and she spent her childhood between her home in Gloucestershire and visiting family in Cornwall. She studied Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and wanted to be a journalist, but ended up moving to Colorado and becoming a Starbucks barista instead. In 2018, she returned to the UK where she enrolled in the Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing course and wrote her first novel Tall Bones, inspired by her time in the US. She currently lives in Cheltenham, where she writes for Cotswold Life and Good On Paper magazines.

portrait photo of Anna Bailey

Also by Anna Bailey

Tall Bones
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Praise for Our Last Wild Days

Raw and unflinching, Anna Bailey’s Our Last Wild Days is about the mystery of how anyone survives as much as it is the mystery of how one woman didn’t. In a beautifully observed story brimming with singular characters, small-town Louisiana still manages to steal the show.... a stunner.

Ashley Winstead, author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour

A propulsive, bold and brutal slice of Southern Gothic brilliance. Anna Bailey writes so beautifully about family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, yet also delivers a tough and truly atmospheric thriller.

Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colours of the Dark and We Begin at the End

With a setting as atmospheric as Where The Crawdads Sing, and characters as memorable as those in All The Colours of The Dark, this is a stunningly written thriller and I savoured single page. Congratulations Anna - another blistering triumph to follow Tall Bones.

Nikki Smith, author of Look What You Made Me Do

A bewitching slice of southern Gothic, in Our Last Wild Days, Anna Bailey cements her reputation for writing thought provoking, character driven crime fiction.

Paula Hawkins

Our Last Wild Days has everything I love in a suspense novel: a vivid and gritty setting, characters with sharp edges, atmosphere that seeps through the pages, and a dark, gripping mystery. Best of all is Anna Bailey’s exquisite prose, filled with lines worth tattooing and passages worth framing. This is a book that will sink into your bones.

Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart and The Family Plot

Anna Bailey is the master of things that move in the dark, with language so lush you feel like you could reach out and touch it. Our Last Wild Days is moody, visceral, stunning - don’t miss it.

Hayley Scrivenor, bestselling author of Dirt Town and Girl Falling, and winner of CWA Debut Dagger

A sweltering fever dream of a novel – brimming with atmosphere, tension, and a truly unforgettable cast of characters.

Colin Walsh, author of Kala

Astonishingly brilliant...The prose sings, the storytelling is exquisite. A rare, extraordinary talent.

CJ Cooke, author of A Haunting in the Attic

Sublime. The best thing I’ve read in ages. Beautifully written and utterly immersive.

Will Dean, author of The Chamber

The author hit the Sunday Times bestseller list with their debut… and I’m certain this will follow . . . Written with such alluring prose, this would make a superb film.

Prima

A brooding, evocative novel

i Paper, 'The best new crime and thriller books to read in April 2025'

Compelling

Crime Monthly

A slow burn murder mystery that immerses readers in its dark and claustrophobic bayou setting

Culturefly

Bailey does a remarkable job of conjuring up the haunted swamplands of southern Louisiana… A particularly spicy gumbo of a thriller

Mail on Sunday

Rich, atmospheric, and deeply evocative, this is an exquisitely written, emotionally resonant mystery

Heat

Writing beautifully, with a real feel for phrases and the colours of words, Anna Bailey captures life in the raw . . . A real triumph of atmospheric writing.

The Critic

Sublime. The best thing I’ve read in ages. Beautifully written and utterly immersive.

Will Dean, author of The Chamber