We all have our favourite authors, but picking up a debut from a new talent can be an unexpected pleasure, as fresh voices emerge telling fascinating stories with cleverly crafted plots.
Ideal for book clubs and often promoted through word of mouth, here are just a few of the debuts to look out for this year.
The Names by Florence Knapp (Phoenix, May 8)
Won in a 13-way UK auction, this is a sliding-doors, what-if novel, about how a name can shape the course of our life. In three possible outcomes, Cora is faced with a difficult decision on naming her newborn son. Does she name him Gordon, after his domineering, cruel father, and risk perpetuating the abuse? Or Julian, the name she wants to help him become his own person? Or Bear, chosen by his sister, to capture his warmth and kindness? This book follows the consequences of all three decisions in the unfolding years.
Pagans by James Alistair Henry (Moonflower Publishing, Feb 27)
The writer behind hit comedies including Green Wing, Smack The Pony, Shaun The Sheep, and cult comedy TV hits The Delivery Man, Piglets and Campus, brings us his first novel, set in an alternative 21st century Britain inhabited by an uneasy alliance of pagan tribes. Supermarket warpaint sales are at an all-time high and mead abuse is shortening many lives.
Amid this febrile atmosphere, a serial killer is on the loose, and the brutal murder of a diplomat has drawn the attention of two mismatched police detectives from very different backgrounds.
The book has already drawn comparisons to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and is currently optioned for a major Apple TV+ series.
Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (The Borough Press, Mar 13)
Billed as a ‘phenomenal love story for fans of One Day and Daisy Jones And The Six’, anyone who fancies a bit of nostalgia in the Indie era should bag a copy of this love story set against a backdrop of the Noughties music world
It centres on Joe, a songwriter, and his college friend Percy, who helps him realise his dreams and swallows her jealousy, but is destined to always be on the sidelines. The action moves from Brooklyn bars to San Francisco dance floors. But can he exist in the spotlight without her?
Death At The White Hart by Chris Chibnall (Penguin Michael Joseph, Mar 27)
Watch out for this debut novel from the award-winning writer of the hit TV series Broadchurch. He brings that expertise to the novel form, set in a small-town community in the South West, in which a city CID detective moves back to Dorset and straight into a murder mystery.
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Feb 25)
This debut author enrolled in a stand-up comedy course to help develop her humour skills on the page, as her witty debut novel follows academic Nadia, disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, who decides to set up a programme in Iraq to rehabilitate ISIS brides.
Not, you might think, a subject for laughter, but Younis, herself an academic who gave strategic advice to US government agencies on Iraq policy, finds humour in the situations she creates, namely connecting Nadia with a feisty, sweary ISIS bride from east London.
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle (Bloomsbury, May 22)
The motion picture is already in development and the novel which examines food, love and death, has already been sold into 12 territories, so this one should create a stir.
When dishwasher Kostya discovers the ability to summon spirits through the food he cooks, he embarks on a journey to open a New York City restaurant that serves closure. But he has ghosts of his own, his menu of ‘spirit cuisine’ is causing problems and he’s falling in love with a party psychic with her own secret connection to the afterlife. It’s a bittersweet cocktail of humour and heart.
Don’t Make Me Laugh by Julia Raeside (Bedford Square, Feb 13)
Already lauded by the likes of Russell T Davies, Daisy Buchanan and Marian Keyes, this debut novel by UK journalist Raeside is centred on the world of stand-up comedy and tells the story of one very toxic man working in the industry and the women who’ve had enough of his bad behaviour and decide to fight back.
Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley (Hutchinson Heinemann, May 8)
From this Australian novelist who used to work on the set of TV show Neighbours before moving to the UK, comes a romcom for grown-ups set in contemporary London. It follows Coralie and Adam for a decade of their shared lives, as they build a home and family, set against the political upheavals of a turbulent decade in UK politics: Tory austerity, Brexit, Covid, and Boris Johnson. Described as ‘a bit Sally Rooney for women in their 30s and up’, this is one to watch.
Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin (Simon & Schuster, Jun 19)
What happens when Smith, a young black queer graduate, is arrested for cocaine possession in the Hamptons on the last day of a hot summer? This impressive debut about race and class, in which Smith is pulled into the court system and finds that his class protects him but his race does not, also sees him search for the truth behind the death of his beloved roommate Elle, a glamorous member of the black elite.
This Immaculate Body by Emma Van Straaten (Fleet, Feb 6)
This compelling story of obsession follows Alice, who has been cleaning Tom’s flat every Wednesday for a year. They have never met, but she knows they are made for each other – with every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every multivitamin counted in the jar, she spirals deeper into infatuation. What starts as a simple, almost innocent obsession turns more and more unsettling as the novel progresses. Compulsive, claustrophobic and gripping.
Big Mouth by Vogue Williams (HarperCollins, May 22)
In typically outspoken, non-filter fashion, the TV presenter and podcaster charts her life in this memoir, from modelling burgers on a Dublin back street, to taking three-hour bathroom naps on a night out. The presenter, who co-hosts the podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me, also shares her stories of divorce, anxiety and family, and a few life lessons along the way.
The Cleaner by Mary Watson (Bantam, Jan 16)
If you’re after an edge-of-your-seat thriller, look out for this one centred on a cleaner who gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. But what she sees and hears quietly she can use to her advantage, because one of the residents took from her the person she loves most. She’s out for revenge, and with her insider knowledge of their secrets and keys to their homes, she’s already got the upper hand.
All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (Fourth Estate, Apr 10)
Acquired in a 10-way auction, this spiky, satirical thriller about an American woman who suspects her beloved son might have murdered a wealthy pupil at his West London private school has been described as “a wildly funny, utterly unputdownable novel with a fresh, original voice and a killer plot”. There’s also a TV adaptation on the cards.
