Rachael Allen

Rachael Allen writes teen fiction about friendship, social expectations, and young people learning to name unfairness in their communities. The Revenge Playbook, published by HarperCollins in 2015, brings together Liv, Peyton, Melanie Jane, and Ana in the football-centered town of Ranburne. Each girl has been dismissed or mistreated by members of the celebrated school team. Their plan to take its prized playbook begins as retaliation, but the unlikely alliance becomes the novel’s emotional center. Allen uses alternating viewpoints and a fast-moving challenge structure to show how different school cliques can conceal similar pressures. Her earlier novel 17 First Kisses and later books A Taxonomy of Love and The Summer of Impossibilities also examine identity, loyalty, and changing relationships during adolescence. The Revenge Playbook is both a comic caper and a critique of the privileges granted to local sports heroes, with friendship giving the four protagonists a more durable form of confidence than winning alone.