Best Debut Fiction of 2022
Tired of the same old same old? Take a leap into something new, with our favorite debut fiction titles from 2022. Whether you enjoy literary fiction, fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, horror, romance, or short stories, there's a newly published author here for you to try. Get in on the ground floor with these promising new authors.
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A Map for the Missing
A Chinese mathematician living in America returns to China after receiving word that his estranged father has vanished from his village, and reunites with a childhood friend he left behind as the pair search and grapple with their pasts.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Wake of War
When forces clash in Salt Lake City, alliances will be shattered, resolve will be tested, and when the dust clears, nobody will be able to lie to themselves, or be lied to, again.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Remarkably Bright Creatures
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium-and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance 30 years ago.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Immortal King Rao
Reckoning with her father's legacy, Athena King, with climate change raging. Sets out to convince the Shareholders that saving the planet requires a radical act of communion by using her access to his memories, among other questionable gifts.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Town of Babylon
Returning to his hometown to care for his ailing father, Andres, a gay Latinx professor, decides to attend his 20-year high school reunion where he encounters the long-lost characters of his youth and must confront these relationships to better understand his own life.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
When he discovers free-spirited drummer Maggie, the woman who is secretly closest to his heart, is pregnant by him, 40-year-old trumpet player and old-school ladies' man who refuses to be tied down, Circus Palmer flees, setting off a chain of interlocking revelations from the various women in his life.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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1,000 Coils of Fear
Heart-rending, opinionated, and wry, Olivia Wenzel’s remarkable debut novel is a clear-sighted and polyphonic investigation into origins and belonging, the roles society wants to force us into and why we need to resist them, and the freedoms and fears that being the odd one out brings.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Black Cake
Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Last Summer on State Street
A coming-of-age debut about friendship, community and resilience, set in the housing projects of Chicago during one life-changing summer.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Which Side Are You on
How can we live with integrity and pleasure in this world of police brutality and racism? An Asian American activist is challenged by his mother to face this question in this powerful—and funny—debut novel of generational change, a mother’s secret, and an activist’s coming-of-age.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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