A lot of the time, authors aren’t known for their debut novels. It often takes a couple of books to grease the wheels and get that perfect read that grabs the attention of the literary world. But there are occasionally those authors who knock it out of the park on their very first try, and you know they’re something special. These recent debuts are some of the best books we’ve read, and we know you’ll love them, too.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
This incredible novel is told in the form of a letter from the protagonist, Little Dog, to his mother, who cannot read, and shares the experience of life as a queer Vietnamese refugee growing up in the U.S. and centers on the novel’s exploration of masculinity and violence in America.
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
You’ve likely heard the buzz around Emezi’s recent release, The Death of Vivek Oji, but if you haven’t read her debut novel yet, you’re seriously missing out. It’s a stunning and slightly disorienting story about a broken woman trying to overcome the pain of her human life while straddling ‘the other side.’ Its shape-shifting perspective is radical and innovative, twisting the narrative voices like the bones of a python.
Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Tell The Wolves I’m Home is a moving story of love, grief and renewal. An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Brunt weaves a tender story of love lost and found, and an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Are you tired of seeing this book on every single book list we share? It’s just that good. Homegoing is so incredibly dimensional and memorable, everyone should read this book at least once in their life. Yaa Gyasi has a spectacular gift of storytelling, and leaves her readers with a visceral understanding of both the savage realities of slavery and the emotional damage that is handed down over the centuries.
The Lightness by Emily Temple
We always get really excited when a new, darkly funny voice arrives on the scene. The debut by Emily Temple is an audacious, suspenseful meditation on adolescent desire, female friendship and the female body that shimmers with rage, wit and fierce longing.
Luster by Raven Leilani
Luster is an absolutely wild ride. In her debut, Leilani tells the story of an extramarital affair that undergoes a stealthy reversal when the “homewrecker” becomes part of the family, this deconstructing domesticity as we know it. But it’s so much more than a tawdry affair tale. At it’s core it’s a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life—her hunger, her anger—and the struggle of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.
In West Mills by De’Shawn Charles Winslow
Set in an African American community in rural North Carolina from 1941 to 1987, In West Mills is a magnificent, big-hearted small-town story about family, friendship, storytelling and the redemptive power of love. Azalea Centre, known to the residents in her community as Knot, is one of the most memorable characters to come along in recent fiction.
The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin
There are so many ways to describe this quietly dramatic novel from Chia-Chia Lin. In her debut, she weaves a complicated and refreshingly unromantic family drama through an arresting portrait of an immigrant family’s pivotal moment of crisis. Lin has a mystical way with words, and you’ll hang on to every sentence as she reveals the harsh realities of working class life in 1980s Alaska and the failed promises of the American dream.
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth introduces us to a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime. Through cinematic storytelling (you’ll find yourself obsessed with her lyrical descriptive style), Disappearing Earth is so much more than a lurid thriller. The tale beautifully digs into the complexities of gender and identity, expectations and longing.
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
When a debut novel wins both the Pulitzer Prize and the Edgar Award, you know you’re witnessing something incredible. The Sympathizer’s premise sets up its many complicated acts—a child born to a young Vietnamese mother and a dissolute French Catholic priest must flee to South Vietnam for the sins of his parentage; there, he is recruited as a secret agent to spy on his countrymen, and soon enough, turns double agent by the North. The Sympathizer is also a meditation on identity, exile, culture, history and so much more. You won’t be able to put it down.
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