An Observer Best Debut Novelist 2026

Winner of the 2026 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction

'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

'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

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

'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?