‘Part Virgin Suicides, part Veronica Mars’ Louise Hegarty, author of Fair Play
‘Electric. Bubbling with rage and yearning’ Guardian
‘A propulsive coming-of-age story’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review
‘Raw, grungy and frenetic’ Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller
‘Full of heart, anger and grunge’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review
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?
‘Electric. Bubbling with rage and yearning’ Guardian
‘A propulsive coming-of-age story’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review
‘Raw, grungy and frenetic’ Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller
‘Full of heart, anger and grunge’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader Review
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?
Reviews
I loved this book: as raw, grungy and frenetic as Nirvana's Nevermind, In Bloom smells like disillusioned teen spirit
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.
Liz Allan's powerful debut novel smells unmistakably like teen spirit . . . Allan evokes Vincent in all its tawdry menace: shark-infested waters, creaking carnival rides, violent men lurking at home. Her chapters are distilled, her prose raw and vital, repetitions imbuing an incantatory rhythm . . . this is an electric portrait of teenage friendship and fandom, bubbling with rage and yearning: an Australian answer to Eliza Clark's Penance and Dizz Tate's Brutes . . . empathetic, addictive and feverish as a Nirvana gig, In Bloom critiques societal problems without patronising those affected by according them a fierce collective voice