2025 Round Up: Favourite Debut Fiction

Resolve to read new authors. In 2025, these authors debuted with their first novels.

Updated January 9, 2026
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Greater Victoria Public Library Greater Victoria Public Library
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2025 Round Up: Favourite Debut Fiction

Resolve to read new authors. In 2025, these authors debuted with their first novels.

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Old school indian
Curtis, Aaron John
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * BUZZFEED BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "[An] entrancing new voice . . . Aaron John Curtis will be your new literary obsession." --Marion Winik, The Boston Globe "An inspired novel by an author whose voice absolutely sizzles on...
The three lives of Cate Kay
Fagan, Kate (Sports writer)
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK | NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of 2025 by Time, NPR, Goodreads, and others. "[A] propulsive puzzle of a novel." --The New York Times Book Review "This story swept me away with its big...
Silver elite
Francis, Dani
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * In the first book of a sizzling dystopian romance series, psychic gifts are a death sentence and there are rules to survival: Trust no one. Lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don't fall for your greatest enemy.
Great black hope
Franklin, Rob (writer of fiction and poetry)
NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Cool and concise; a talent to watch." --Jay McInerney author of Bright Lights, Big City "You're going to get papercuts, you're going to turn the pages so fast." --Brad Thor, Today A gripping debut from...
The list of suspicious things
Godfrey, Jennie
Paper Book
***THE NUMBER 3 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*** HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB FOR APRIL A BEST DEBUT OF 2024 BY BBC, RED, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Such a fresh and interesting voice. You'll cry and you won't be able to stop reading' ...
The names : a novel
Knapp, Florence,
READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY | AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! 2025 BOOK OF THE YEAR AS FEATURED IN THE INDEPENDENT, THE TIMES, THE SUNDAY TIMES, THE GUARDIAN, COSMOPOLITAN (UK), WOMEN'S HEALTH (UK), AND IRISH...
These Memories Do Not Belong to Us : A Novel
Ma, Yiming.
For fans of American War and Cloud Atlas, a hauntingly beautiful and prescient debut novel set in a future where a renamed China is the sole global superpower and citizens can record and transfer memories between minds. When I was a boy, my mother used to...
A killer wedding : a novel
O'Leary, Joan
*A NATIONAL BESTSELLER* "Fans of The White Lotus and Knives Out will gobble up this whip-smart whodunit... Good luck solving this especially twisty mystery before the big reveal--you'll need it."--Marie Claire  "The Riptons are American...
Oxford Soju Club
Park, Jinwoo
A SHELF AWARENESS BEST BOOK OF 2025 * A CBC BOOKS BEST CANADIAN FICTION BOOK OF 2025 * A CRIMEREADS BEST BOOK OF 2025 The natural enemy of a Korean is another Korean. When North Korean spymaster Doha Kim is mysteriously killed in Oxford,...
The Witch of Willow Sound : A Novel
Penney, Vanessa F.
For readers of Our Wives Under the Sea and The Once and Future Witches comes a feminist gothic tale with a tough-as-nails female protagonist who must find her elderly aunt, long suspected of being a witch. A spooky, atmospheric, and fast-paced feminist tale about women called witches and the parts...
To the Moon and Back : A Novel
Ramage, Eliana.
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK: "A breathtaking debut about family, identity, and love across generations." --REESE WITHERSPOON "Eliana Ramage will break your heart and take you to the stars. From painfully accurate depictions of adolescence to effortless jumps through time...
Finding grace : a novel
Rothschild, Loretta
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A July Indie Next Pick * "A strikingly original and deeply moving debut." --People * "Begins with such a gasp-inducing twist that it's almost impossible to describe." --Real Simple * "The literary book of the summer." --Sarah Gelman, CBS...
Three Parties
Saadi, Ziyad
A queer Palestinian refugee plans to come out at his elaborate birthday dinner party in this tragicomic modern reimagining of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Firas Dareer wakes up on his twenty-third birthday with a sense of purpose: today he'll jump from a Stage 3 to a...
Kill the beast
Swift, Serra
Paper Book
The Witcher meets Howl's Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship--for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure. The night Lyssa Cadogan's brother was...
Maggie; or, A man and a woman walk into a bar
Yee, Katie
A New York Times Notable Book. One of Time's 100 Must-Read Book of 2025. Summer's Best Beach Reads by The New York Times * Books You Should Read This July by New York magazine * Books We're Most Excited About by Today * Best Beach...
Julie Chan Is Dead: A Novel
Zhang, Liann
Paper Book
INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER One of NPR's Books We Love for 2025 For fans of Bunny and Yellowface, this razor-sharp debut thriller blends biting satire with chilling suspense, as a young woman steps into her deceased twin's influencer life--only to...
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