So many great debut books have been released and made their mark in 2023. From queer dystopian thrillers to warm coming-of-age campus novels, readers have been treated to countless page-turners. Looking ahead, this great year for debut books does not slow up.
Here are over 30 debut books you should pre-order right now. Titles include a list of books founder Adam Vitcavage has read already and loved, has on his nightstand and wants to read, and is desperate to get his hands on.
July
All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky (July 11; Catapult)
Get ready for one of the best books of the new millennium. Madievsky’s book follows a young girl enamored with her troubled older sister. When the older sister goes missing, the unnamed character begins her journey filled with peaks and valleys while she discovers who she is meant to be. The novel is filled with razor-sharp wit and nuanced meditation on sobriety, sisterhood, and shame. Madievsky has entered the pantheon of debut authors readers will be talking about a decade from now and beyond.
Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella (July 11; Flatiron)
This queer coming-of-age novel is tender and thought-provoking. Set in India during the 1990s, Akella shines in his ability to craft characters filled with heart that come to life with gorgeous prose.
Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch (July 11; Doubleday)
Lynch offers a page-turning historical fiction as lavish as a Jay Gatsby party. Readers won’t soon forget Edie O’Dare, a failed Golden Age Hollywood starlet, who is one of the most striking narrators in recent memory. Lynch’s language dazzles on every page.
Excavations by Hannah Michell (July 11; One World)
Set in South Korea, Michell follows a stay-at-home mom as she delves into her own investigation of what happened to her missing husband. Carefully crafted with expert pacing, Excavations explores intimate secrets as well as wide-spread conspiracies with ease.
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei (July 18; Flatiron)
The Deep Sky is a propulsive sci-fi set in space as a group seeks to save humanity from the upcoming environmental catastrophe. Kitasei turns doomsday tropes on its head and twists what is expected in beautiful ways.
I Meant It Once by Kate Doyle (July 18; Algonquin)
The stories that fill Doyle’s debut are clever and mesmerizing. She navigates intimate moments with precise plotting, lavish language, and colorful characters. Each story is a stand-out. To quote Sum-41, it’s all killer and no filler.
Here in the Night by Rebecca Turkewitz (July 21; Black Lawrence Press)
These stories are R.L. Stine for adults. And that is the equivalent of a two-thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert. Turkewitz nails the atmosphere of every story and flexes her muscles with thoughtful characters you’ll want more pages of. This feels like an instant re-readable collection once the sky turns gray and leaves start falling.
August
The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones (August 1; Henry Holt & Company)
Anita Gail Jones weaves together personal histories and the legacies that came before us in an expansive story about family and hidden histories. The world in this debut novel feels so lived in. Readers are drawn in by gorgeous passages about landscapes that dance with all five senses.
The Men Can’t Be Saved by Ben Purkert (August 1; Overlook Press)
A laugh-out-loud romp about masculinity, sex, and obsession. This is a hilarious expose about how society views working hard. Purkert cuts deep and his prose leaps off the praise.
The Lookback Window by Kyle Dillon Hertz (August 1; Simon & Schuster)
The Lookback Window will shake you to your core. The main character was the victim of sex trafficking as a child and now seeks to sue his abusers after a new law offers a short window to do so. Kyle Dillon Hertz’s phenomenal prose is tender and powerful and provides moments of beauty and hope even in the darkest and more harrowing moments.
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (August 8; Mariner Books)
Following generations of Yanktonai Dakota women, Power explores their lives and secrets, how Indian boarding schools devastated them and the entire population, as well as the massacres their people had to endure. It is a transcendent and moving novel that will remain in the heart of readers long after the final page.
Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck (August 8; Marysue Rucci Books)
Imagine Nightbitch, but more fantastical and 100% more shark. This book was recently recommended by a bookstore owner and I gobbled it up in one night. It’s equally hilarious and heartbreaking. It’s the kind of book you just have to trust whoever is recommending you the book is right and go into it hungry for damn good writing.
Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go by Cleo Qian (August 15; Tin House)
These storries are surreal and enchanting. Qian explores how we hide behind and are obsessed with our screens. Everyone who has doom-scrolled should read this collection.
The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins (August 15; Atria)
Googins’ climate-fiction enters the canon alongside recent titles like Appleseed and Eleutheria. Partly set after the world was saved, readers get glimpses of a utopia we could have. The other side of the coin is the dystopia we see decades before as the world fails to address the climate crisis. There is a sense of hope among the despair.
Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto (August 29; Bloomsbury)
Megan Kamalei Kakimoto is a short story writer that all other short story writers should study. She has the ability to captivate readers with a single sentence. Her prose bursts with exquisite confidence that makes it hard to believe this is a debut collection. Every Drop is a frontrunner for Book of the Year.
Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias (August 29; Flatiron)
The richy and luscious prose of Where There Was Fire is some of the best writing Debutiful has come across. Set in Costa Rica in 1968, the book follows a family hiding a secret that threatens to tear them apart. Every page is a masterclass in how to wrap a reader inside of a book. Simply put, this book will make you want to re-read it just to spend more time with the writing.
September
Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine (September 5; Tin House)
These stories are set in an Arab American community of Dearborn, Michigan and range from heartwarming to rage-inducing and everything in between. Zeineddine creates a nuanced exploration into all aspects of a community and allows characters room to breathe and come to life. Reading this collection is an eye-opening experience for those who only encountered these kinds of characters in mainstream American media.
I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel (September 5; Graywolf Press)
This blazing debut has already taken the U.K. by storm and will set American readers on fire. Patel explores the politics of sex and relationships in a searing manner. I’m a Fan will shock you in the best way.
Sift by Alissa Hattman (September 5; The 3rd Thing Press)
Do not judge this dystopian book by its page count. Hattman does more in barely over 100 pages than most books do with triple the page count. It is a gorgeously written love letter to humanity on the brink of collapse.
Kill for Love by Laura Picklesimer (September 5; Unnamed Press)
This satirical thriller follows a sadistic sorority girl and if that alone doesn’t make you want to pick up this book you should check your pulse. Hilarious and shocking, Picklesimer has created an uterlly original must-read book. It’ll make your jaw drop onto the floor and you’ve been so captivated you won’t even care.
Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas (September 12; Overlook Press)
Two thirty-somethings reflect on an intense teenage friendship that started on 9/11 and encompassed coming-of-age in a time when no one could predict what the future looked like. It’s a very queer and very fresh take on teen friendship. Idlewild is exquisite and revolutionary. You won’t want to miss this.
Glitter and Concrete by Elyssa Maxx Goodman (September 12; Hanover Square Press)
The drag history book we’ve all been waiting for. Goodman tracks the history of drag in New York City from the Jazz Age to the age of RuPaul winning Emmys. Fans of Paris is Burning will get the spiritual follow-up to the seminal documentary. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about queer history.
October
Mama Said by Kristen Gentry (October 1; West Virginia University Press)
The linked stories set in Louisville, KY follow a complex Black family chock-full of memorable characters. The collection will reshape what you think about the region and the people that inhabit it.
Company by Shannon Sanders (October 3; Graywolf Press)
This collection follows a single family through time and numerous locations. With each story, readers get a different understanding of the company they keep on each page. Sanders writes with such courage and complexity. She has a masterful grasp of characters, pacing, and plotting. Company is a delectable debut.
Brutalities by Margo Steines (October 3; W. W. Norton & Company)
Brutalities is a memoir that reflects on past lives of sex, power, and brutality. Stienes writes ferociously about agency, bodily autonomy, and rage against systems.
The List by Yomi Adegoke (October 3; William Morrow)
The titular list is a viral list of names of bad men. Adegoke turns her main character’s world upside down when her fiance’s name is on it. The book is a proposulsive page-turner that tackles social status on social status and relationships.
Edenville by Sam Rebelein (October 3; William Morrow)
A horror novel about a failed debut writer is the kind of meta this world needs. Rebelein’s writing is sharp and witty. Edenville expands what it means to be a horror novel with a fresh approach and unique twists.
House Gone Quiet by Kelsey Norris (October 17; Scribner)
This story collection bends the possibilities of what a story can be and do. Norris jumps from genre to genre and shows her talents are at the top of their game in every iteration. House Gone Quite will blow your mind.
The Night Parade by Jami Nakamura Lin (October 24; Mariner)
Jami Nakamura Lin reflects on a life with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, confronting monsters, and her father’s cancer. The book is broken into four acts, invoking the traditional Japanese narrative arc and promises a genre-bending approach to the memoir.
Pay As You Go by Eskor David Johnson (October 24; McSweeney’s)
A hilarious odyssey about a man without a place to live seeking what his place in the world is. It is Catcher in the Rye for the 21st Century.
November
A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter (November 7; Algonquin)
The award-winning author makes her fiction debut with a generational family saga.
Upcountry by Chin-Sun Lee (November 7; Unnamed Press)
Lee’s debut book follows three women in the Catskills navigating a new life none expected. Claire and her husband left New York City and purchased April’s foreclosed home, which causes tension between them.
Wings of Red by James W. Jennings (Soft Skull; November 21)
Wings on Fire follows a homeless substitute teacher with a felony dreaming of a brighter future. Jennings uses his main character to poke holes through the idea of the American Dream. The stylish narrative voice propels this book. Jennings’ point of view is unlike any other.
December
Airplane Mode by Shahnaz Habib (Catapult; December 5)
A memorable and unique travelogue that explores what it means to explore the world through the lens of colonialism, capitalism, and climate change.
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