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Booklists
Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.
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Booklists and Suggested Reading
Fiction Debuts - 2003
Page Modified: February 11, 2008
A list featuring
some selected first novels and debut short story collections (mostly
hardcover). This list may not be comprehensive. First novel information
is collected from a variety of sources. Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine - unless
otherwise noted.
- Love and Country
Author: Adam, Christina
Publisher: Little Brown $ 23.95 ISBN: 0613765000
Kirkus
The author of Any Small Thing Can Save You, a collection of stories, now pens a moving and lyrically written debut novel of love and rodeo in the American West.
Updated 7.8.03 - Brick Lane
Author: Ali, Monica
Publisher: Scribner $ 25 ISBN: 0743243307
Kirkus
LJ PW
A stunningly accomplished debut and already an international sensation--the story of one outsider's quest to find her voice. What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing could be changed, everything had to be borne. This principle ruled her life.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 6.25.03 - In the Electric
Eden
Author: Arvin, Nick
Publisher: Penguin $ 14 (paper) ISBN: 0142002569 Date: 2003
Booklist
In this dazzling debut, Arvin, a former engineer, layers his knowledge of technology, mechanical design, and human character into this collection of ten emotionally riveting stories that, though seemingly linked, come together to form an awe-inspiring whole.
Updated 1.25.03 - Daughter: A Novel
Author: Bandele, Asha
Publisher: Scribner $ 23 ISBN: 0743211847
LJ
The gifted and charismatic author of the acclaimed memoir The Prisoner's Wife delivers a bold and heartrending first novel that explores the silence of black women and illuminates the fragile complexity of the mother-daughter bond.
Suggested Reading: African American Stars
Updated 8.14.03 - Special
Author: Bathurst, Bella
Publisher: Mariner $ 12 (paper) ISBN: 0618263276
Library Journal
A group of schoolgirls goes off on a field trip to the English countryside in a story that will remind readers of Lord of the Flies. Put up at a manor house that has seen better days, they discover that the nearby town offers alcohol, drugs, and sex--grown up downfalls that are at once tempting and terrifying.
Updated 3.13.03 - Calpurnia
Author: Beller, Anne Scott
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0375413804
LJ
An elegant debut novel about a once grand Philadelphia mansion called Calpurnia; about its owner, who has died under mysterious circumstances; and about the woman who unravels the secrets and intrigues hidden away in the 100-year-old house.
Updated 6.5.03 - Promiscuous
Unbound
Author: Brian, Bex
Publisher: Atlantic $ 23 ISBN: 0871138735
Kirkus
Vivienne Yellow, the narrator of this arresting debut, is an American woman who lies in traction in a Parisian hospital, remembering the sexual misadventure that landed her there. Ribald and funny, with a rich Dorothy Parker bitterness, Promiscuous Unbound traces the relationship between memory, love, and loss.
Updated 3.13.03 - I Was
Howard Hughes
Author: Carter, Steven
Publisher: Bloomsbury $ 14.95 (paper) ISBN: 1582343756 Date: 2003
Kirkus
Part The Great Gatsby, part This Is Spinal Tap, Carter's hilarious debut paints a fictional portrait of a biographer, his notorious subject, and the illusions held about fame and fortune.
Suggested Reading: Biographical Fiction
Updated 7.8.03 - Brownsville
Author: Casares, Oscar
Publisher: Little, Brown $ 13.95 (paper) ISBN: 0316146803
PW
At the country's edge, on the Mexican border, Brownsville, Texas, is a town like many others. It is a place where people work hard to create better lives for their children, where people bear grudges against their neighbors, where love blossoms only to fade, and where the only real certainty is that life holds surprises.
Updated 2.24.03 - Calligrapher
Author: Docx, Edward
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $ 24 ISBN: 0618343970
Kirkus LJ
This fresh, original, altogether winning first novel is centered on a young London calligrapher named Jasper--an engaging, intelligent serial seducer and a breaker of hearts.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
Updated 9.08.03 - His Mother's Son
Author: Emmons, Cai
Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 015107349 Date: 2003
Kirkus
Part domestic drama, part psychological thriller, this superb first novel from filmmaker Emmons follows a woman doctor, her young son, and the violent legacy of her brother.
Updated 10.10.02 - The First
Thing Smoking: Stories
Author: Eubanks, Nelson
Publisher: One World $ 19.95 ISBN: 0345451783
LJ
A provocative new voice in fiction that blends the urban and exotic locales of New York City and Brazil--for readers of Junot Diaz, Aleksandar Hemon, and Dan Chaon. This collection of 17 interconnected stories traces the evolution of Maceo, from impressionable adolescent to an adult black man.
Suggested Reading: African American Fiction Stars
Updated 5.19.03 - The Student Conductor
Author: Ford, Robert
Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399150374
Booklist LJ
Cooper Barrow has returned to the competitive fray of the orchestral world after eight years of exile--bringing his talent and insecurity into Frankfurt when the Berlin Wall falls. With remarkable intensity and physicality, Ford delivers a pitch-perfect debut, brimming with intrigue and revelation.
Suggested Reading: Music & Fiction
Updated 11.18.03 - Hell at the Breech
Author: Franklin, Tom
Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 0688167411
Kirkus
The award-winning author of Poachers weaves together historical fact, dark lyrical prose, and blistering action in this stunning first novel of hooded vigilantes in 1897 Alabama.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
Updated 3.27.03 - The King's Evil
Author: Heinrich, Will
Publisher: The King's Evil $ 23 ISBN: 0743235045
Kirkus
In the tradition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and, more recently, Bernhard Schlink's The Reader, comes a provocative and unsettling modern morality tale of subtly evolving horror--a mesmerizing debut from a brilliant young writer.
Updated 4.24.03 - Where
the Truth Lies
Author: Holmes, Rupert
Publisher: Random $ 24.95 SBN: 0679452206
Kirkus
LJ Booklist
" Rupert Holmes seats you gently next to an irresistible narrator only to entangle you completely in her twisted, dark, exhilarating troubles. The ensuing thriller crosses a Dickensian world of deceit and destiny with the slipping glory of 1970s New York and Los Angeles. Every character is so alive with delicious secrets that you'll never suspect Where the Truth Lies." --Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 6.25.03 - Abandon
Author: Iyer, Pico
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 037541505x
PW
LJ
John Macmillain, an English graduate student in California, is obsessed with understanding the secrets of Sufism. When rumors reach him of ancient Islamic manuscripts smuggled out of Iran, he follows their trail and meets an elusive woman who hints that she knows more than she seems to about the mysteries he is pursuing.
Updated 1.16.03 - Rope Eater
Author: Jones, Ben
Publisher: Doubleday $ 24 ISBN: 0385509774
PW Booklist
A voyage of Arctic exploration during the American Civil War becomes an epic of madness and survival, in a stunning first novel animated by the spirits of Poe, Crane, Conrad, and Melville.
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars | Sea Stories
Updated 11.25.03 - The
Commissariat of Enlightenment
Author: Kalfus, Ken
Publisher: Ecco $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060501367
Kirkus
PW
Brimming with intellect, humor, sweep, and rich, inventive storytelling, The Commissariat of Enlightenment is a novel of ideas that brilliantly evokes the tragicomic world of revolutionary Russia and the birth of today's image-based society, marking Kalfus as a daring and talented writer.
Updated 1.3.03 - Same as It Never
Was
Author: Lazebnik, Claire Scovell
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312312490
Library Journal
Capturing the privileged world of the West Side of Los Angeles, this debut features an irreverent UCLA student who suddenly finds herself the guardian of her four-year-old half sister.
Updated 4.7.03 - The Seduction
of Silence
Author: Le Hunte, Bem
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25.95 ISBN: 006052197x Date: 2003
Kirkus
From the soaring hills of the Himalayas to haunted rooms in Great Britain, this enchanting debut novel--a bestseller in India--follows one family through five generations in a tale that is ethereal and earthy, profound and deeply heartfelt.
Updated 10.31.02 - The Gangster We Are All Looking
For
Author: Le, Thi Diem Thuy
Publisher: Knopf $ 18 ISBN: 0375400184
Kirkus
A momentous literary debut: the life of a Vietnamese family in America luminously observed through the knowing eyes of a child. The Gangster We Are All Looking For is an authentically original story of finding one's place and voice in America.
Updated 2.23.03 - Gilgamesh
Author: London, Joan
Publisher: Grove $ 23 ISBN: 0802117414
Library Journal
London's stunning debut novel is set in 1937 Australia. Seventeen-year-old Edith is enthralled by the stories of her English cousin and his American friend about their archaeological dig in Iraq--especially tales of the ancient Mesopotamian king Gilgamesh.
Updated 1.29.03 - Blessed
Are the Cheesemakers
Author: Lynch, Sarah-Kate
Publisher: Warner $22.95 ISBN: 0446531286
LJ
Set on a small Irish dairy farm, this tender and funny debut novel follows two lost souls as they try to carve out new lives amid a colorful cast of characters reminiscent of those in the hit film Waking Ned Divine.
Updated 6.5.03 - Well
Author: McIntosh, Matthew
Publisher: Grove $24 ISBN: 0802117511
PW
Well marks the astonishing debut of an author with a singular and unflinching voice and vision. Set among the working class of a Seattle suburb called Federal Way, this original novel extols the lives of a large cast of characters lost in various modes of darkness and despair.
Updated 5.19.03 - Center
of Everything
Author: Moriarty, Laura
Publisher: Hyperion $ 22.95 ISBN: 1401300316
LJ
In Moriarty's extraordinary first novel, a young girl tries to make sense of an unruly world spinning around her. Growing up with a single mother who is chronically out of work and dating a married man, ten-year old Evelyn Bucknow learns early how to fend for herself.
Updated 5.19.03 - Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath
Author: Moses, Kate
Publisher: St Martins $ 23.95 ISBN: 031228375x
PW
LJ
This stunning literary debut captures the haunting last months of Sylvia Plath's life and the painful creation of her legendary Ariel poems. Wintering is a deeply felt novel about artistry, marriage, motherhood, and self-understanding.
Updated 1.16.03 - How to Breathe Underwater: Stories
Author: Orringer, Julie
Publisher: Knopf $ 21 ISBN: 1400041112
LJ Booklist
This guide to life in a hostile world is an astonishing debut story collection from a young writer who has already received immediate worldwide attention.
Updated 9.22.03 - Drinking
Coffee Elsewhere
Author: Packer, Z.Z.
Publisher: Riverhead $ 23.95 ISBN: 1573222348
Kirkus
PW
LJ
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is the highly anticipated debut of a remarkable writer of short stories and winner of the Whiting Writers' Award and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award.
Suggested Reading: All Stars & African American Fiction Stars
Updated 1.16.03 - The Pearl of Kuwait
Author: Paine, Tom
Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 0151005184 Date: 2003
Booklist
California surfer Cody "Cowboy" Carmichael's life is forever changed when he meets Private Tommy Trang at boot camp. A powerful first novel by an award-winning writer, Paine has created an enthralling, joyful, and original story with the classic ingredients of love and war.
Suggested Reading: Gulf War I Stars
Updated 2.28.03 - The Dante Club
Author: Pearl, Matthew
Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 0375505296
Kirkus
Booklist
When a series of gruesome murders erupts in 1865, only Boston's literary elite realize that the style and form of the killings are derived from Dante's Inferno. Twenty-six-year-old Pearl brilliantly blends fact and fiction in this debut mystery starring Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Link: The Dante Club web site
Updated 12.2.02 - In the Cherry Tree
Author: Pope, Dan
Publisher: Picador $ 14 (trade paper) ISBN: 0312422369
LJ
With a wholly original voice, this stunning debut novel captures the overwhelming transformation from childhood to adolescence.
Updated 9.08.03 - Jonah Sees Ghosts
Author: Sullivan, Mark
Publisher: Akashic $ 13.95 ISBN: 1888451041
Library Journal
Jonah Sees Ghosts is a shocking, touching, and humorous first novel that blends magical realism with a figurative study of how alcohol abuse shapes the personalities within a family. A stylish blend of S.E. Hinton, Stephen King and Tom McGuane, Jonah Sees Ghosts tells the story of fifteen-year-old Jonah Hart, a boy with a problem he's afraid to share. Not only does he see ghosts, but when he dreams at night, he can also leave his body and travel in the ether--a compellingly addictive form of retreat. - Publisher Marketing.
Updated 4.7.03 - The Song Reader
Author: Tucker, Lisa
Publisher: Pocket/Downtown $ 12 (paper) ISBN: 0743464451
PW
When two sisters are left alone after the death of their mother and the disappearance of their father, Mary Beth becomes the hero of both her younger sister and their entire town. She is a "song reader." She doesn't read palms or tarot cards; she reads people's secrets and desires from the songs they can't get out of their minds.
Suggested Reading: Music & Fiction
Updated 3.17.03 - And Now You
Can Go
Author: Vida, Vendela
Publisher: Knopf $ 19.95 ISBN: 1400040272
LJ PW
A sharply humorous and fast-paced debut novel about the effects--some predictable, some wildly unexpected--that an encounter at gunpoint have on a (previously) assured young woman.
Updated 5.19.03 - Black Box: A Novel in 840 Chapters
Author: Walker, Nick
Publisher: Perennial $ 12.95 (paper) ISBN: 0060532246
PW
A dark, complex, and stunning debut novel in the tradition of Palahniuk and Ballard, this is a highly original and wildly morbid story about a disparate group of people connected by an airplane accident.
Updated 9.22.03 - Winner
of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad
Weather
Author: Willett, Jincy
Publisher: St Martins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312311818
LJ PW
The long-awaited novel from the author of the acclaimed collection Jenny and the Jaws of Life. In her darkly comic and unsettling first novel, Willett explores the darker side of human nature with the lightest of touches. She is a writer of astonishing power and talent.
Updated 9.08.03 - Old School
Author: Wolff, Tobias
Publisher: Knopf $ 22 ISBN: 0375401466
Booklist PW
The author of the genre-defining memoir This Boy's Life and The Barrack's Thief now presents his first novel about a young boy at New England prep school obsessed with visiting authors.
Updated 10.14.03 - The Book Against God
Author: Wood, James
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 23 ISBN: 0374115389
PW
Thomas Bunting, the charming, chaotic, and deeply untruthful narrator of Wood's wonderful first novel, is in despair. His marriage is disintegrating and his academic career is in ruins: instead of completing his philosophy Ph.D., he is secretly writing what he hopes will be his masterwork, a vast atheistic project he has privately entitled The Book Against God.
Updated 3.31.03
Mystery,
Suspense, Thrillers & Crime Fiction: First Novels 2003
More Debut/First Look information
Hotlists
Stars
Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
Speculative Fiction Romance Historical Nonfiction | YA
Hotlists
Hotlists: Fiction | Crime Fiction
Genre Hotlists: Christian Fiction | African American Fiction
Stars
Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
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