One of The Observer (London)’s Best Debut Novels of 2026

A story of class and coming-of-age as a group of best friends investigates the allegations against their teacher.

It’s the mid-nineties, and in the small, shitty coastal town of Vincent, Australia, four Nirvana-obsessed fourteen-year-old girls form a grunge band. The Bastards are “forgettable girls”—poor, not particularly clever, ridiculed by their better-off classmates, and desperate to escape the fates of their mothers, who seem locked into a life of minimum-wage jobs, surprise pregnancies, and drunk boyfriends. The Battle of the Bands is the girls’ one ticket out.

As small-town rumors swirl, however, The Bastards are abandoned by their lead singer Lily Lucid, who accuses their beloved music teacher of assault. The three remaining girls are left with nothing. Nothing, that is, except their amateur detective skills, a conviction that Mr. P is innocent, and a readiness to sacrifice everything to keep their dream alive. Spinning with rage at the confines of their lives, they reach a precipice where there’s no turning back.

Brash and bold, grungy and propulsive, In Bloom is a coming-of-age novel about class, girlhood in precarious circumstances, and how to build a sense of self when the foundations of friendship fail.