Description

An Observer Best Debut Novelist 2026

‘An electric portrait of teenage friendship and fandom, bubbling with rage and yearning . . . empathetic, addictive and feverish as a Nirvana gig’
Guardian

‘A powerful and evocative debut from a writer of great skill and deeply felt emotion’
Observer’I loved this book . . . raw, grungy and frenetic’
Alice Slater, author of Let the Bad Times Roll

‘Part Virgin Suicides, part Veronica Mars’
Louise Hegarty, author of Fair Play

‘Effervescently paced and outrageously funny . . . jaw-dropping’
Luke Kennard, author of The Transition

‘I was totally absorbed . . . amazing and unlike anything else’
Saraid de Silva, author of Amma

In the town of St Vincent, everyone knows everyone else’s business. So when Lily Lucid accuses the beloved high school music teacher Mr P of sexual assault, rumours swirl and lines are drawn. On one side: Lily’s former friends – the fiercely loyal girls who immediately set out to prove their teacher’s innocence. On the other: all the adults who have already written them off as a lost cause.

The girls will stop at nothing to hold onto their dream of escaping their small, run-down town, their desperate mothers and absent fathers – and Lily’s accusation threatens it all.

But how far out of control can they spin before there’s no turning back?

Publisher Review

I loved this book: as raw, grungy and frenetic as Nirvana’s Nevermind, In Bloom smells like disillusioned teen spirit — Alice Slater, author of Let the Bad Times Roll What a novel! In Bloom is effervescently paced and outrageously funny, but as deep as the hope and angst that drives its protagonists. A perfectly detailed encapsulation of an era we’ve collectively not quite gotten over. It’s also a jaw-dropping exercise in perspective with one of the most brilliantly conceived denouements I’ve encountered. — Luke Kennard, author of The Transition