Must-Read Debut Fiction
Featuring an irresistible thriller, exciting dark fantasy, heartwarming fiction, and more—here are 10 unforgettable debut authors you don’t want to miss.
Looking for more new voices in fiction?
Check out our latest Debut Excerpt Sampler!
Alchemised: A Novel by SenLinYu
In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.
“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.”
Available September 23rd in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Also Available in Spanish: Alchemised
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Watch Our ‘Endless Possibilities’ Author Panel Featuring SenLinYu
Boy from the North Country: A Novel by Sam Sussman
A son returns home to his dying mother to discover the astonishing truth of his origins and the secrets of a woman whose life and wisdom he is only beginning to understand.
“[Sussman] magicks this material into a gorgeous, emotionally thrilling first-person novel . . . The love that swells beneath this scene, and every scene, will just about knock you over . . . Come for the riveting father-son mystery, stay for the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Available September 16th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
A Beautiful Family: A Novel by Jennifer Trevelyan
Over the course of one sunbaked summer vacation, a family is pulled into a web of mysteries that the younger daughter sets out to solve. A tense, page-turning debut of childhood, innocence, and evil.
“I absolutely loved this page-turning family mystery and didn’t want it to end . . . An extraordinary, exquisitely written debut.”—Liane Moriarty, New York Times bestselling author of Here One Moment
Available in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Print Editions.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
Watch Our ‘Suspense and Surprises’ Author Panel Featuring Jennifer Trevelyan
The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee: A Novel by Saki Kawashiro; Translated by Yuka Maeno
What ingredients do you need to cure a broken heart? This soul-nourishing comfort read is for anyone who has loved and lost—and wants to love again.
Based on the author’s viral heartbreak story, this is a charming novel (with recipes) about a woman who uses the power of a warm meal to bring together the fellow lonely hearts in this small suburb of Tokyo.
Available October 14th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Conform: A Novel by Ariel Sullivan
The must-read first novel from Jenna Bush Hager’s new venture, Thousand Voices.
In the far future, one young woman finds herself torn between two loves—and two sides of a rebellion boiling under the surface—in the first novel of a sweeping dystopian romance series.
“Ariel Sullivan’s Conform pulses with drama and romantic tension, propelling readers through a world where love, autonomy, and rebellion collide. Like a cross between The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale, this dystopian debut delivers gripping twists and an irresistible emotional core, exploring power, identity, and the cost of defiance. I loved this novel! Propulsive, thought-provoking, and utterly unputdownable, it’s a must-read.”—Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftover Woman
Available October 14th in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Print Editions.
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Watch Our ‘Magic of Love’ Author Panel Featuring Ariel Sullivan
Loved One: A Novel by Aisha Muharrar
From an Emmy Award–winning writer comes a funny, wise, heartbreaking story about a woman journeying into the unknown in the wake of sudden loss.
“Loved One shimmers with wit even as it explores deep loss. What does it mean to love and lose? How do we undo—and make—each other? Aisha Muharrar asks enduring questions while acknowledging how funny they can be, too. This is a book I will be pressing, urgently, into the hands of my own loved ones.”—Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of Real Americans
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
The White Hot: A Novel by Quiara Alegria Hudes
The story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment—from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.
“In The White Hot, Quiara Alegría Hudes has written the brown Latina modern-day Siddhartha that Hermann Hesse never saw coming. Here is a necessary takedown of the patriarchy—a book written for everyone, but especially for those of us whose moms fled because escaping was the only option. I wish this masterpiece had existed for teenage me. Gracias, Hudes, for gifting us April Soto, a force of a voice that will stay with me forever.”—Javier Zamora, author of Solito
Available November 11th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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American Mythology: A Novel by Giano Cromley
A charming and comic debut novel about a quirky ensemble embarking on an epic quest to find Bigfoot.
“American Mythology is a riveting, big-hearted novel about a group of pilgrims who encounter both the mysteries of nature and ultimately those of the human heart. Giano Cromley has given us a much-needed reminder that, if sought, wonder may yet be found in our world.”—Ron Rash, author of The Caretaker
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
Made You Look: A Novel by Tanya Grant
A Catskills retreat turns deadly for a group of influencers when a snowstorm cuts them off from their greatest resource—their followers—just as a killer strikes in this irresistible debut thriller.
“Tanya Grant’s debut novel is reminiscent of a classic Agatha Christie-style locked-door whodunit—that is, if Christie wrote about social media influencers and their entourages.”—Marie Claire
“A cunning peek into the BTS of influencers, set against a backdrop that is both isolated and somehow cozy. I flew through this drama-filled book in just two days!”—Jesse Q. Sutanto, USA Today bestselling author of Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)
Available November 18th in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Happy Bad: A Novel by Delaney Nolan
Hernan Diaz meets Ottessa Moshfegh in this madcap road trip chronicle; a moving display of human connection in the face of violence and climate destruction from a remarkable new voice in fiction.
“Happy Bad shows the too-near future of our nightmares: climate disastrous, opportunities few, food altered, brains manipulated. But this book also gives us the best we can dream of: people who look out for each other, communities who take care. Delaney Nolan has written a brutal, joyful, surprising, and gorgeous novel of human contradictions. It’s a stunner.”—Julia Phillips, author of Bear and Disappearing Earth
Available October 14th in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
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