11 of the best coming-of-age books nominated for the Booker Prizes

Our childhoods and teenage years are life-defining, shaping the adults we become. It’s perhaps not surprising that coming-of-age stories are some of our most beloved.

‘Coming-of-age’ is often used interchangeably with ‘bildungsroman’, a quirky term that many readers may be unfamiliar with. Bildungsroman is a German phrase that translates to ‘novel of education’ or ‘novel of formation’. It’s a literary genre that focuses on the formative years of life, often exploring adolescence through to early adulthood, and where psychological growth and self-development are key aspects in a character’s arc.

Bildungsroman novels have been a regular feature on Booker and International Booker Prize longlists. The winner of the Booker Prize 2025, Flesh, was described as an ‘unconventional kind of bildungsroman’ by the Economist, while the Booker Prize 2025 Chair of judges, Roddy Doyle, won the prize in 1993 with his own coming-of-age classic, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

These 11 Booker-nominated novels follow the moral and psychological growth of an array of young characters, as they deal with the aftermath of traumatic events, shifting identities and ever-changing family dynamics.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Midnight’s Children is one of the Booker’s all-time fan favourites. It won the Booker Prize in 1981,the special Booker of Bookers Prize in 1993, to mark the prize’s 25th anniversary, and the Best of the Booker in 2008, for the 40th anniversary. 

The novel tells the story of Saleem Sinai, who was born at midnight on 15 August, 1947, at the exact moment that India gained its independence. All children born between 12am and 1am that night have special powers. As Saleem is determined to find out the meaning behind his gifts, he becomes a conduit, connecting other gifted children and creating a Midnight Children’s Conference.

Not only does Rushdie chart the course of Saleem’s life, from a child gifted with telepathic powers to an adult questioning his identity, but, according to Clark Blaise in the New York Times, ‘It is also a novel of India’s growing up; from its special, gifted infancy to its very ordinary, drained adulthood.’

Brian Tanguay, in the California Review of Books, said ‘Midnight’s Children bears the mark of all great literature in that it deserves, and almost demands, to be read again and again.’

There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert

Translated from French and longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2025, There’s a Monster Behind the Door is Gaëlle Bélem’s debut novel.

Set in La Réunion in the 1980s, the book follows the dysfunctional Dessaintes family and a mother and father’s reign of terror. The narrator is one of their daughters, an unnamed girl who is constantly haunted by her violent and destructive family. Determined to escape the intergenerational trauma that has plagued them all, the young narrator finds solace through reading and writing. 

The International Booker Prize 2025 judges said, ‘In prose that throbs with verve, humour and pain, this story set on the island of Réunion brings to life a narrator beset with the history of her family and her people.’

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

Cat’s Eye follows the story of Elaine Risley, a successful artist who has returned to her home city of Toronto. As memories of her childhood and young adulthood start to emerge, Elaine finds herself remembering certain traumatic events that she’s blocked out. From her cruel tormentor and former best friend, Cordelia, who subjected Elaine to merciless bullying, to other pivotal experiences that have defined her life, including motherhood and loss.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, Cat’s Eye explores the pain and suffering that has haunted Elaine for the past 40 years. She reflects on the trajectory of her life, the influence of her childhood friendships, and the difficulty of shedding past shame.

Claire Tomalin, writing for the Observer, said ‘Cat’s Eye is largely a meditation on ageing and the way it changes one’s relations with people, places and the past.’

C by Tom McCarthy

Set in a world full of radio transmissions and cryptic codes during the early 20th century, C depicts the eccentric life of Serge Carrefax. From his early years as a young boy fascinated with radio waves to adolescent tragedy and his time as an aeroplane radio operator in the First World War, Serge experiences a range of pivotal moments that define who he is.

C was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010, and, in an interview with The White Review, Tom McCarthy said that ‘it’s got a much more epic scope than the previous books I’ve done and, in one sense, a very conventional narrative arc – a cradle to grave, nineteenth-century bildungsroman.’  

According to Jenny Turner, writing in the London Review of Books, ‘C is organised to look a bit like a realist Bildungsroman, the life and impressions of one young man: he even gets born with a caul on him, as David Copperfield did. Serge, however, attracts no sympathy or empathy or whatever from his creator: he’s a convergence, or rather an area of concentration, where ideas, images, words, preoccupations gather and regroup.’

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time found success with both adults and children as two versions of the book were published, one aimed at older readers and another at younger ones. Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003, the mystery novel is narrated by 15-year-old Christopher Boone. Christopher lives with his widowed father in Wiltshire, and, although extremely gifted at mathematics, he often finds social interactions difficult. 

After discovering that his neighbour’s dog has been murdered, Christopher decides to investigate and uncovers more than he bargained for. What follows becomes a pivotal moment in his life, and a catalyst for growth and change.

Nani Power, writing for the Washington Post, said ‘Although the book is character-driven, it also contains a rich plot. It is a murder mystery, a road atlas, a postmodern canvas of modern sensory overload, a coming-of-age journal and lastly a really affecting look at the grainy inconsistency of parental and romantic love and its failures.’