Each month, Debutiful will recommend a handful of buzzworthy and under-the-radar debut books for you to read.
This list was going to come out the day after the American election. The anxiety so many of us have felt for the last four years can finally be lifted but the dread is still looming over us. One thing that has helped me and so many of us get through 2020 was literature. So, here are 6 books you should consider reading this month. Regardless of what happens in the election, these books are books to help you escape or celebrate the outcome of the election.
White Ivy by Susie Yang (Simon & Schuster; 11/3)
As a teen, Ivy is a petty thief trying to steal her way into an upper-class clique. Then her mother sends Ivy away to her ancestral China as punishment As an adult, she is back and even more mysterious and all of a sudden gets everything she wanted years ago: her teen crush, fancy dinner parties, and riches. Then a ghost from her past returns to disrupt her new life.
All Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, trans. by Anna Moschovakis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 11/10)
Diop’s English language debut was a smash his in France. It is about a Senegalese man fighting for the French army during World War One who is asked by his injured friend to kill him to end the misery. What unfolds is a gripping and emotionally wrought story that will linger in your mind for days after.
Lord The One You Love Is Sick by Kasey Thornton (Ig Publishing; 11/10)
A book of collected and intertwined stories of a small, rural town filled with secrets. Thornton’s work is emotional as she takes you into the unraveling lives of a tight knit community. It is the type of book that is a tough pill to swallow, but one that needs to be consumed.
The Orchard by David Hopen (Ecco; 11/17)
Ari has always lived an ultra-Orthodox life but when he enrolls in a flashy academy, his world is turned upside down. He gets entangled with the school’s most exclusive clique and begins to push his morals to their limits. Hopen explores class and wealth with a fine eye throughout this coming-of-age debut.
Nights When Nothing Happened by Simon Han (Riverhead; 11/17)
Life for a “model immigrant” family is disrupted when the youngest child begins sleepwalking and setting off a series of unfortunate and confusing events. A chain of secrets begin to spill out in Han’s debut in a mesmerizing and unique way. Han is a voice we’ll be listening to for books to come.
Eartheater by Dolores Reyes, trans. by Julia Sanches (Harpervia; 11/17)
This provocative debut is set in an unnamed slum of Argentina as a young woman discovers unique powers if she eats the dirt around her. She is given disturbing visions of pain and suffering that she keeps to herself until the truth leaks out and she becomes a sought after woman by her community.
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