Debutiful’s Adam Vitcavage recommends noteworthy debut books for readers to discover each month.
Homeseeking by Karissa Chen (January 7)
From the publisher: An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.
Last year, we kicked things off with The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan, a knockout historical fiction that everyone including their grandmother loved. This year, we get another historical and romantic novel to start the year off right. Chen’s debut is a panoramic story about recapturing, and outrunning, the past. Emotions pour over on every page while characters you will grow to cherish navigate intimacy across place and time. She asks if we can recapture our past, and, more importantly, if we should try to.
Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was) by Colette Shade (January 7)
From the publisher: Perfect for fans of Jia Tolentino and Chuck Klosterman, Y2K is a delightfully nostalgic and bitingly told exploration about how the early 2000s forever changed us and the world we live in.
We need more great essay collections that take a critical lens to recent culture and history and Shande’s collection is a perfect addition to that pantheon. While nostalgia is just now dipping into the Y2K era, Shande unflinchingly looks at the time period with biting takes and a keen eye. She explores why we’re so nostalgic for the 2000s, why what we were promised never came true, and what we can learn from our past.
Three Lives of Cate May by Kate Fagan (January 7)
From the publisher: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.
Sports journalist Kate Fagan tries her hand at fiction and absolutely delivers with a page-turning romp. This is a fun book about friendship and superstardom. It’s a pure joy ride.
Confessions by Catherine Airey (January 14)
From the publisher: For fans of The Goldfinch and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, an ambitious and absorbing debut that follows three generations of women from New York to rural Ireland and back again.
Generational novels that feel lived in are always a welcome treat. It is a warm, cozy, blanket with precise and delicious writing. Airey gifts readers a gorgeous and spellbinding debut.
Helen of Troy, 1993 by Maria Zoccola (January 14)
From the publisher: Part myth retelling, part character study, this sharp, visceral debut poetry collection reimagines Helen of Troy from Homer’s Iliad as a disgruntled housewife in 1990s Tennessee.
I didn’t know what to expect when this one arrived on my doorstep. I ended up reading it in one sitting and was moved by the creativity and the modern take on an all-time classic. The moment I finished it, I knew it was going to be a favorite book for a long, long time.
Good Girl by Aria Aber (January 14)
From the publisher: An electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of self-discovery–“a stunning coming-of-age story” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history
Wow. Holy, wow! This had a lot of hype already by the time I got my hands on it and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a messy coming-of-age with complex and gripping characters.
The Gloomy Girl Variety Show by Freda Epum (January 14)
From the publisher: Merging memoir, poetry, and criticism, this radical literary revue traces a first-generation Nigerian American’s search for home and belonging on her own terms.
Epum invites readers into a world filled with beautiful language and clever quips to explore identity in an approachable way. It is a mesmerizing debut that will open readers’ eyes to new worlds.
American Oasis by Kyle Paoletta (January 14)
From the publisher: An expansive and revelatory historical exploration of the multicultural, water-seeking, land-destroying settlers of the most arid corner of North America, arguing that in order to know where the United States is going in the era of mass migration and climate crisis we must understand where the Southwest has already been
As someone who grew up in Phoenix, this book offers an eye-opening history that reveals that the Southwest is much more than meets the eye. Succinctly reported and written, this was a treat to read and learn from.
Strange Beach by Oluwaseun Olayiwola (January 21)
From the publisher: A debut poetry collection wrangling the various selves we hold and perform–across oceans and within relationships–told through a queer, Nigerian-American lens
Olayiwola’s poems made me stop and catch my breath. He writes without fear, inviting readers to experience raw emotions and unspoken truths. Strange Beach was profoundly moving.
Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su (January 28)
From the publisher: A humorous and deeply moving debut novel in the vein of Bunny and Convenience Store Woman about a young woman who tries to shape a sentient blob into her perfect boyfriend.
A laugh-out-loud and off-the-wall story. It’s all about finding yourself and finding love, but it does so in a completely unexpected way. Reading this was like riding a rollercoaster.