Debut Novel

All great fiction writers start with a first novel - the seed of a flourishing literary career. Read and enjoy! Plant a seed, read!

Updated May 17, 2026
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Milwaukie Ledding Library
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Debut Novel

All great fiction writers start with a first novel - the seed of a flourishing literary career. Read and enjoy! Plant a seed, read!

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Things fall apart
Achebe, Chinua
Paper Book
Okonowo is the greatest warrior alive. His fame has spread like a bushfire in West Africa and he is one of the most powerful men of his clan. But he also has a fiery temper. Determined not to be like his father, he refuses to show weakness to anyone - even if the only way he can master his...
The Martian chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Paper Book
The strange and wonderful tale of man's experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions.The classic work that transformed Ray Bradbury into a household name. Written in the age of the atom when America and Europe optimisitcally viewed the discovery of...
Jane Eyre
Brontë, Charlotte
Paper Book
Charlotte Brontë's moving masterpiece - the novel that has been "teaching true strength of character for generations" (The Guardian). Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read A novel of intense power and...
Geek love
Dunn, Katherine
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist: This 'wonderfully descriptive' novel from an author with a 'tremendous imagination' tells the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias have bred their own exhibit of human...
The Eyre affair : a novel
Fforde, Jasper.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The first novel in the renowned Thursday Next series, which "combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (The Wall Street Journal). "A literary wonderland [that] recalls...
Neuromancer
Gibson, William
Paper Book
SPECIAL 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION --THE MOST IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF THE PAST TWO DECADES Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down. The winner of...
Red harvest
Hammett, Dashiell.
Paper Book
Catch-22
Heller, Joseph.
Paper Book
Named one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read * One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years One of the funniest books ever written, Joseph Heller's masterpiece about a bomber squadron in the Second World War's...
The dog stars
Heller, Peter
Paper Book
A novel about the end of the world which makes you happy to be alive
Big chief
Hickey, Jon
Paper Book
Mitch Caddo started out with the best of intentions--after his mother's sudden death in a car crash, he finished law school and returned to Passage Rouge, the reservation where she grew up. Though an outsider to the tribe himself, he sought to help his new community by representing disadvantaged...
Strangers on a train
Highsmith, Patricia
Paper Book
The world of Patricia Highsmith has always been filled with ordinary people, all of whom are capable of very ordinary crimes. This theme was present from the beginning, when her debut, Strangers on a Train, galvanized the reading public. Here we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno,...
The outsiders
Hinton, S. E.
Paper Book
Now a Broadway musical Inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's iconic film Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read First published in 1967, S. E. Hinton's novel was an...
The snow child : a novel
Ivey, Eowyn.
Paper Book
In this magical debut, a couple's lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstep. Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he...
To kill a mockingbird
Lee, Harper
Paper Book
Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South--and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred One of the most cherished stories of all time, To...
The heart is a lonely hunter
McCullers, Carson
Paper Book
'She has examined the heart of man with an understanding ... that no other writer can hope to surpass' Tennessee Williams Often cited as one of the great novels of twentieth-century American fiction, Carson McCullers' prodigious first novel was published to instant acclaim...
The time traveler's wife
Niffenegger, Audrey
Paper Book
⭐ THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER ⭐ 'An old-fashioned love story. A terrific book' Observer 'An elegy to love and loss' Independent 'One of those books that makes you want to eat it up from start to finish' Guardian ...
When the emperor was divine : a novel
Otsuka, Julie
Paper Book
Julie Otsuka’s commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese internment camps unlike any we have ever seen. With crystalline intensity and precision, Otsuka uses a single family to evoke the deracination—both physical and emotional—of a generation of Japanese Americans....
The God of small things
Roy, Arundhati
Paper Book
'They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much.' This is the story of Rahel and Estha, twins growing up among the banana vats and peppercorns of their blind...
Pedro Páramo
Rulfo, Juan
Paper Book
A GUARDIAN BEST NOVEL OF ALL TIME'One of the masterpieces of twentieth-century world literature' Susan SontagWith an Introduction by Gabriel García MárquezFrom one of the most famous and influential Mexican writers, and the father of magical realism, this novel is a stunning masterpiece of the...
The sparrow
Russell, Mary Doria
Paper Book
A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial...
The catcher in the rye
Salinger, J. D.
Paper Book
The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.     "If you...
The thirteenth tale : a novel
Setterfield, Diane.
Paper Book
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller "Readers will feel the magnetic pull of this paean to words, books and the magical power of story."--People "Eerie and fascinating."--USA TODAY Sometimes, when you open the door...
The help
Stockett, Kathryn
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film--a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't--nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Aibileen is a...
The secret history
Tartt, Donna
Paper Book
Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement - incredibly compelling, dramatic and playful. Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at...
The clay girl
Tucker, Heather
Paper Book
"It is the voice of the characters, the kindness of strangers, and the ingenuity and determination of our protagonist against terrible forces that make this story sing." -- San Francisco Chronicle "[An] unbelievably accomplished first novel." -- NOW Magazine...
Maisie Dobbs : a novel
Winspear, Jacqueline
Paper Book
After the Armistice in the spring of 1929, Maisie hangs out her shingle: M. Dobbs, Trade and Personal Investigations. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but turns up something else, a tombstone with only a first name. The deceased had lived on a cooperative farm called The Retreat, a...
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