Best Debut Novels Of The Last Years [Top 10] [2024 Update]

What are the best debut novels in recent years? Here we give you our top 10 with recommendations. Read on and choose your next surprising book…

The best among the debut novels: new in the field and scoring high already

We start our recommendations with the top 10 best debut novels of all time. This list has been updated this year, including all the recent titles.

Best debut novels of the last years	Author
Open Water	Caleb Azumah Nelson
Acts of Desperation	Megan Nolan
Moth	Melody Razak
Girl A	Abigail Dean
Highway Blue	Ailsa McFarlane
The Paper Lantern	Will Burns
Learwife	JR Thorp
Little Scratch	Rebecca Watson
Assembly	Natasha Brown
Dead Souls	Sam Riviere

The top 10 list: the best debut novels

Debuting is pretty difficult. These authors didn’t just survive with their first novel – they flourished.

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau: A Novel

When Saul Drower’s grandfather dies, he helps to clean up his place, only to discover some kind of unknown manuscript written in 1929 by Adana Moreau. Saul then travels to New Orleans to find Adana’s child, when the story gets much more complicated.

Invisible City: A Novel (Rebekah Roberts Novels Book 1)

A mother leaves her newborn child for her religion, and when this child grows up to be a reporter, she finds herself being in New York again, close to where her mother could still be. During her story on a murdered religious woman, however, she meets a lot of resistance.

Blessed Monsters: A Novel (Something Dark and Holy, 3)

A queen, girl, prince, and a monster end up working together to fight evil. Can the damage that has already been done, be undone by them?  According to us that is the big question in this last book in this series.

Raft of Stars: A Novel

When two friends try to end the harm being done to one of them by his father, a group of four adults tries to track them into the forest they used as an escape route. We recommend this book to anyone who loves an adventure.

Who is Maud Dixon?: A Novel

This psychological thriller follows the life of Florence Darrow, who ends up stepping in the shoes of Maud Dixon, a bestselling pseudonym, when after an accident the real writer has disappeared.

The Orchard: A Novel

When Ari Eden moves from Brooklyn to a Miami suburb, he finds himself meeting a new group of friends in a Jewish Academy, and it’s the change he has been looking for. Can he stop testing his religion before it’s too late?

The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel

Being in a concentration camp cannot be easy, but what if this is the place where you meet the love of your life? Both of them escape the camp separately, but they end of finding each other again in the real world.

The Sweet Taste of Muscadines: A Novel

When a mother dies, her grownup children finally return to their hometown. We chose this book for our top 10, because of the shocking secrets they discover, which end up changing their family’s history.

Real Life: A Novel

Wallace is black and queer, and he left Alabama to go to university and become a biochemist. As an introvert he normally keeps to himself, but will the events to follow change him? We think they will.

Abundance: A Novel

In our opinion this book gives an unusual but authentic insight into poverty, when father and son end up having to live in their pickup truck. Will they manage to improve their situation?