Five of the best coming-of-age novels

Judith Mackrell has been one of Britain’s leading dance critics since 1986, writing first for The Independent and currently for The Guardian. She broadcasts regularly on TV and radio and has written several critically acclaimed books on dance. Her first biography, Bloomsbury Ballerina, a portrait of the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, was published 2008 and was short-listed for the Costa Biography Award. Her latest book is Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation.

For the Telegraph, Mackrell named five young fictional heroines in coming-of-age novels, including:

[F]or a brilliantly gamed argument in how our lives are shaped by random events, Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life (2013) plots the coming of age of Ursula Todd, through a puzzle of what-might-have-beens.

Read about the other young heroines Mackrell tagged.

Also see: Janice Clark's top seven timeless coming-of-age novels; Kate Clanchy's top ten coming-of-age novels; Shani Boianjiu's five top novels about coming of age, Emily Bazelon's five top coming-of-age stories, and A.E. Hotchner's five favorite coming-of-age tales.

--Marshal Zeringue