In Bloom - Liz Allan

A heartfelt coming-of-age story about a fearless group of best friends investigating the allegations against their teacher and how far they will go to escape the suffocating drudgery of their small town. nIt's the mid-nineties, and in the small 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. n nBut then The Bastards's lead singer, Lily Lucid, abruptly quits. Everyone says she got into a white van on Albatross Avenue, with a man in all black. As small-town rumors swirl, Lily accuses their beloved music teacher of assault, and 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. n nBrash and bold, grungy and propulsive, In Bloom is a novel about class and coming-of-age, girlhood in precarious circumstances, and how to build a sense of self when the foundations of friendship fail.n