Debut Fiction
Read an author’s debut novel or first published book! All-Year Reading Challenge • 2024
January 18, 2024
This book list features debut novels and first books by emerging authors. From captivating stories to unique perspectives, these books offer a glimpse into fresh voices and promising talents in the literary world. Discover new favorites and exciting reads with this collection of debut works.
Use this booklist to fulfill a reading challenge prompt in our All-Year Reading Challenge!
Red Sky Over Hawaii
Sara Ackerman
Returning home to Hawaii in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing, Lana puts her heart and safety on the line when she is forced to go into hiding to protect wrongly targeted Japanese children.
Mrs Nash’s Ashes
Sarah Adler
Reluctant travel companions, starry-eyed romantic Millicent and cynical writer Hollis take the road trip of a lifetime to deliver the ashes of Millicent’s elderly best friend to the woman she fell in love with nearly 80 years ago, upending what they both believe about true love.
The Curse Of Penryth Hall
Jess Armstrong
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn, delivering a box of books to Penryth Hall, the home to her once dearest friend, Tamsyn, is drawn into a mystery when Tamsyn’s husband is murdered and the crime is blamed on a curse–one that could claim Tamsyn’s life as well.
We Were Never Here
Andrea Bartz
After a backpacking trip in Chile with her best friend Kristen goes horribly wrong, Emily is forced to confront their violent past and wonders if she can outrun the secrets they share or if they will destroy her relationship, freedom and even her life.
Destination Wedding
Diksha Basu
Escaping a personal and professional crossroads by attending a cousin’s lavish wedding in Delhi, Tina Das navigates her divorced parents’ dating lives and the reappearance of an ex before drama forces her to make the decisions she has been avoiding.
The Romantic
The Real Life Of Cashel Greville Ross
William Boyd
A 19th-century everyman, Cashel Greville Ross seeks his fortune around the world, traveling as a solider, farmer, felon, writer and father, experiencing all the vicissitudes of existence, including a once-in-a-lifetime love, and realizing his greatest accomplishment is discovering who he truly is.
Moloka’i
Alan Brennert
Dreaming of far-off lands away from her loving 1890s Honolulu home, seven-year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her reentry into the world.
When In Rome
Liam Callanan
From a nationally best-selling, award-winning author comes the story of an opportunity to start over at midlife, a chance to save a struggling convent in the Eternal City, and the dramatic re-emergence of an old flame.
What Storm, What Thunder
Myriam Chancy
In this unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit, the author artfully weaves together the lives of people left to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake that has shaken the capital of Haiti.
The Most Beautiful Girl In Cuba
Chanel Cleeton
At the end of the 19th century, reporter Grace Harrington and a courier secretly working for Cuban revolutionaries in Havana free “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba” who has been unjustly imprisoned, a mission that forces them all to fight for their freedom as war looms on the horizon.
Ramadan Ramsey
Louis Edwards
When Ramadan Ramsey, the son of a ninth generation New Orleans African American and a Syrian refugee, turns 17, he sets off to find the father he has never known–an adventure-filled journey filled that takes him from NOLA to Egypt, Istanbul and finally Syria.
The Sun Sets In Singapore
Kehinde Fadipe
In Singapore, three very different women–Dara, a workaholic lawyer from the UK; Amaka, a sharp-tongued banker from Nigeria; and Lillian, a pianist turned “trailing spouse” from the United States–find their lives inexplicably intertwined upon the arrival of a handsome and mysterious man from Geneva who brings their worlds crashing down.
Rock Paper Scissors
Alice Feeney
When Amelia wins a free weekend getaway to a remote venue in the Scottish highlands, she views this as the perfect opportunity to reconnect with her husband Adam, but the trip has the opposite effect as she no longer recognizes the person she married.
The Guest List
Lucy Foley
An expertly planned celebrity wedding between a rising television star and an ambitious magazine publisher is thrown into turmoil by petty jealousies, a college drinking game, the bride’s ruined dress and an untimely murder.
The Last Laugh
Lynn Freed
When their empty-nest freedom is compromised by the demands of their grandchildren, three friends embark on a year-long excursion to Greece that is complicated by an extramarital affair, a stalking client, an ex and an unscrupulous fortune-hunter.
The Little Paris Bookshop
Nina George
Prescribing books that offer therapeutic benefits to his customers, a literary apothecary in a floating bookstore on the Seine struggles with private heartbreak before embarking on a journey of healing at the side of a blocked writer and a lovelorn chef.
The Last Love Note
Emma Grey
The Last Love Note will make readers laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart–and in love itself.
How To Find Love In A Bookshop
Veronica Henry
Struggling to hold onto her family’s bookshop after her beloved father’s death, Emilia finds support from family-like customers who navigate their own difficulties with secrets, loss, and unrequited romance.
Shipped
Angie Hockman
The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game in this whipsmart romantic comedy about a marketing manager who’s forced to go on a cruise with her arch-nemesis when they’re up for the same promotion.
Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel
Ruth Hogan
Returning to her childhood home in Brighton after the death of her estranged mother, Tilda uncovers complicated truths before discovering the renewing power of a chosen family.
Meet Me In Paradise
Libby Hubscher
Reluctantly leaving home for the first time since her journalist mother’s death, Marin visits a tropical island spa before a series of embarrassing events reveal her sister’s secret matchmaking agenda.
The Lion’s Den
Katherine St John
Accepting a friend’s invitation to a glamorous Mediterranean cruise, an actress struggling with a stalled career becomes a member of a group of friends under the control of a gold-digging host who would expose dangerous secrets.
The Romantic Agenda
Claire Kann
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he’s met the love of his life–and no, it’s not Joy–she’s heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something�or someone�and his name is Fox.
Pretty Guilty Women
Gina LaManna
Detectives must unearth the truth after a man is found dead during a rehearsal dinner at a fancy resort and four different women confess to the crime, each insisting they acted alone, and each with very different stories.
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee
In early 1900s Korea, prized daughter Sunja finds herself pregnant and alone, bringing shame on her family until a young tubercular minister offers to marry her and bring her to Japan, in the saga of one family bound together as their faith and identity are called into question.
Fifty Words For Rain
Asha Lemmie
Abandoned by a mother who instructs her never to fight or ask questions, an illegitimate child of mixed heritage in 1948 Kyoto forges a powerful bond with her older half-brother against the wishes of their formidable grandparents.
The Wildest Sun
Asha Lemmie
Forced from her home in postwar Paris, aspiring young writer Delphine Auber embarks on a journey to New York’s Harlem, and then to Havana and Key West, in search of her father, whom she believes is famed luminary Ernest Hemingway.
You Can’t Stay Here Forever
Katherine Lin
After the death of her husband, Ellie Huang, discovering he had a mistress, cashes in his life insurance policy for an extended stay on the French Riviera with her best friend–a sun-drenched getaway that turns into a reckoning for Ellie as long-simmering tensions and uncomfortable truths come to the surface.
Prophet Song
Paul Lynch
With Ireland caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack, as the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, must decide how far she’ll go to save her family and what–or who–she is willing to leave behind.
The Summer Getaway
Susan Mallery
Jumping at the chance to visit her beloved aunt to escape her life, Robyn, while spending time with the woman who’s like a mother to her, sees herself–and the people she loves most–with a bit more clarity, pushing her to take chances she hadn’t dreamed of before.
The Vacation
John Marrs
On the shores of Venice Beach, eight strangers, staying in a rundown backpackers hostel, are all running from something-and have secrets they’re more than willing to kill for.
Absolution
Alice McDermott
Sixty years after they lived as wives of American servicemen in early 1960s Vietnam, two women reconnect and relieve their shared experiences in Saigon in the new novel by the author of The Ninth Hour.
Paris Is Always A Good Idea
Jenn McKinlay
Witnessing remarriages in her family in the years after her mother’s death, a talented medical-research fundraiser retraces her post-college European tour in the hopes of reconnecting with one of three romantic partners from the past.
Vacationland
Meg Mitchell Moore
From the author of Two Truths and a Lie and The Islanders, a delicious summer read set in midcoast Maine, tackling family secrets, marriage, motherhood, and privilege.
Under The Java Moon
Heather B Moore
A World War II novel about a Dutch family who is separated during the war when the Japanese occupy the Dutch East Indies.
The Island Villa
Sarah Morgan
Celebrated romance author Catherine Swift has topped the bestseller lists for decades, though her personal story hasn’t been quite so successful. Three failed marriages have left her relationship with her daughters strained, but that’s about to be rectified. Engaged yet again, Catherine is counting on this wedding to be what finally brings them together as a family, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.
Maps For The Getaway
Annie England Noblin
In tribute to their late best friend, three former friends, in a 1962 red Lincoln Continental convertible, take the road trip of their lives, discovering that it’s never too late to live the wild life–and rediscovering what made them best friends forever.
The Resort
Sara Ochs
Taking her students out for their first dive off the breathtaking coast of Koh Sang, Thailand’s world-famous party island, scuba diving instructor Cass, when things quickly spiral out of control, leaving one person dead and another critically injured, realizes someone has discovered her secret.
The Road Trip
Beth O’Leary
Forced to take a road trip together to their friend’s wedding in Scotland, former lovers Dylan and Addie are forced to confront the choices they made that tore them apart–and ask themselves whether that final decision was the right one after all.
Pieces Of Happiness Of Friendship, Hope And Chocolate
Anne Ostby
Five longtime friends, now in their 60s, decide to live together on a cocoa farm in Fiji, where, while starting a chocolate business, they strengthen their friendship and rediscover themselves.
The Bone Hacker
Kathy Reichs
Called in to help investigate the murders of young male tourists on the islands of Turks and Caicos, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan makes a discovery that could have global significance, making herself a target.
K�nstlers In Paradise
Cathleen Schine
In this powerful novel of stories hand down and handed on, and those held close to the heart, Julian Kunstler, during the 2020 pandemic, is trapped in Venice, California, with his glamorous, eccentric 93-year-old grandmother who shares her experiences upon arriving in the US after escaping Nazi Germany.
One Italian Summer
Rebecca Serle
The New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years returns with a powerful novel about the transformational love between mothers and daughters set on the breathtaking Amalfi Coast.
Do I Know You?
Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka
A couple with a quietly failing marriage find a new spark when they are accidentally introduced as total strangers and decide to just play along, in the new novel by the authors of The Roughest Draft.
One Night On The Island
Josie Silver
From the New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December…When a double-booking at a remote one-room cabin accidentally throws two solace-seekers together, it feels like a cruel twist of fate. But what if it’s fate of a different kind?
The Star-Crossed Sisters Of Tuscany
Lori Nelson Spielman
Visiting an octogenarian relative in Italy who declares that she will break a family curse that has prevented all second-born daughters from marrying, three second daughters embark on a journey to help their great-aunt fulfill her final wish.
Something In The Water
Catherine Steadman
A successful banker and a rising filmmaker embark on a blissful paradise honeymoon in Bora Bora, where the discovery of a mysterious bag of riches triggers a sequence of events that indelibly marks their marriage and lives.
Palazzo
Danielle Steel
The head of her family’s haute couture Italian leather brand, Cosima Saverio, partnering with France’s most successful handbag company, must make an impossible choice when her brother loses a hefty sum at the casino and his debt must be repaid with money or his life.
The Vacationers
Emma Straub
Celebrating their thirty-fifth anniversary and their daughter’s high-school graduation during a two-week vacation in Mallorca, Franny and Jim Post confront old secrets, hurts, and rivalries that reveal sides of themselves they try to conceal.
A Chateau Under Siege
Martin Walker
When an actor in a local play is attacked during the performance, Bruno must learn whether it was an accident, a crime of passion–or an assassination attempt with implications far beyond the small French village.
Cuba Straits
Randy Wayne White
When a friend who was running a lucrative smuggling operation goes missing after selling a valuable cache of letters written by Fidel Castro, Doc Ford discovers that the letters may have contained a powerful secret.
Cold Paradise
Stuart Woods
A thriller set on the Gold Coast of Florida finds street-smart former cop-turned-private investigator Stone Barrington on the trail of an elusive stalker who seems to be able to mimic people at will and who is targeting Allison Manning, a woman Stone had thought dead.
On Fragile Waves
E Lily Yu
Growing up on their parents’ mythical stories about the opportunities of Australia, a brother and sister travel with their family from war-torn Pakistan through temporary homes in Indonesia and Nauru, before government indifference in Australia challenges their dreams.