A stirring, introspective exploration of youth and grief…
Blossom offers a profound portrait of adolescence, capturing a young boy’s struggle to rebuild his identity in the wake of illness, loss, and the demands of growing up. The story follows Duncan Pepper, a gifted teenage actor playing Hamlet, whose path is interrupted by an impossible decision. Blossom’s choice to mirror Duncan’s arc with Shakespeare’s Hamlet is more than structural. Like the prince of Denmark, Duncan grapples with grief, legacy, and the pressure to choose how, and whether, to act. His most powerful moment comes not in a staged scene but in a callback improv exercise, where he channels his pain into spontaneous, surreal dialogue. It’s an extraordinary passage, rich with rhythm and symbolism, and it reveals what the book suggests all along: performance, when honest, becomes its own kind of truth.
Alongside Duncan’s inner life, the novel captures the emotional steadiness of his relationships with Beck, a tech-savvy classmate with a sharp tongue and a generous heart; and Gale, the unconventional, bell-bottom-wearing drama teacher who becomes both director and guide. Beck, in particular, is a standout character: funny, grounded, and refreshingly free from cliché. Her friendship with Duncan evolves gradually into something deeper, and their dynamic is rendered with the tenderness of two people still figuring themselves out. Set largely in school hallways, locker rooms, and theater spaces, the novel also tackles the subtle violence of masculinity. Blossom is unsparing in his depiction of how the adolescent male body becomes a battlefield. Duncan’s size, his “delayed” puberty, and his emotional self-possession make him an object of suspicion and ridicule. But instead of collapsing under this pressure, Duncan studies it. He resists not by fighting back, but by refusing to be defined by others’ ideas of what a boy should be.
The writing is understated and clean. Blossom favors clarity over flourish, and his strength lies in the interiority he builds for Duncan. His voice is sharp, often humorous, and occasionally heartbreaking, with dialogue that captures the awkward eloquence of adolescence. Structurally, the book resists melodrama. There are no easy redemptions and no sudden fixes; just a gradual process of Duncan learning to carry himself through the world with more intention, more confidence, and more love. By the final pages, the novel makes its argument quietly but clearly: becoming yourself is not a single moment but a lifelong performance. And sometimes, the hardest act is simply choosing to continue. Lovers of “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky will find much to admire here.
Sensitive, smart, and deeply felt.
Pub date April 27, 2025
ISBN 978-0999615676
Price $19.99 (USD) Hardcover, $12.99 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition
