In Bloom
The Virgin Suicides meets The Girls - the gripping debut novel
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$0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus voucher
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In Bloom
Narrated by:
Alice Pryor, Phoebe Panaretos, Taryn Ryan
Buy Now for $28.28
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Narrated by:
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Alice Pryor
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Phoebe Panaretos
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Taryn Ryan
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By:
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Liz Allan
Summary
'Atmospheric and gripping ... propulsive and intimate'
Observer
'An electric portrait of teenage friendship and fandom, bubbling with rage and yearning . . . empathetic, addictive and feverish as a Nirvana gig'
Guardian
'Part Virgin Suicides, part Veronica Mars'
Louise Hegarty, author of Fair Play
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?
'Effervescently paced and outrageously funny . . . jaw-dropping'
Luke Kennard, author of Black Bag
'I loved this book . . . raw, grungy and frenetic'
Alice Slater, author of Let the Bad Times Roll
'I was totally absorbed . . . amazing and unlike anything else'
Saraid de Silva, author of Amma©2026 Liz Allan
Critic Reviews
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 Black Bag)
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 (Madeleine Feeny)
Written in an eerie first person plural - "We practise our songs on the skate home, singing in harmony, over and over" - that narrates short, propulsive chapters, In Bloom is deeply evocative of 1990s suburbia, passionate teenage friendships and the looming shadow of patriarchal violence. (Anna Leszkiewicz)
Atmospheric and gripping .... propulsive and intimate ... The specificity of her observations brings a wonderful depth and atmosphere to her portrait of working-class life in a small town in the 1990s; to her depiction of the magic and intensity of friendships between teenage girls; and to her understanding of how patriarchal violence looms over vulnerable young women, from multiple angles. This is a powerful and evocative debut from a writer of great skill and deeply felt emotion. (Anna Leszkiewicz)
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