First Novelists 2006: All New, All Distinct
By Barbara Hoffert with Ann Burns -- Library Journal, 3/15/2006
Last fall’s leading first novels may be uniformly successful, but they aren’t uniform. Benjamin Kunkel’s Indecision is honey-tongued comedy, while Uzodinma Iweala’s Beasts of No Nation probes the tragedy of contemporary Africa. Settings jump from small-town New England (Kristin Allio’s Garner) to a ranch in Idaho (Heather Sharfeddin’s Blackbelly) to Antarctica (Albert Sánchez Piñol’s Cold Skin). And readers can do some time traveling as well, moving from 17th-century Mexico (Paul Anderson’s Hunger’s Brides) to the sewers of 19th-century London (Clare Clark’s The Great Stink). There’s also great variety in the list of forthcoming debuts, with stars indicating those that have already received strong reviews in LJ.
Addonizio, Kim. Little Beauties. S. & S. ISBN 0-7432-7182-3. $23.
The tale of an obsessive-compulsive former beauty pageant contestant whose life is changed by a baby that isn’t even hers, this little beauty by award-winning poet Addonizio was a BookSense pick and garnered great reviews. “A fresh, surprising novel” (Washington Post Book World). (LJ 6/15/05)
Allio, Kristin. Garner. Coffee House. ISBN 1-56689-175-2. pap. $14.95.
Allio’s account of small-town New England didn’t need a splashy New York Times review to make the grade; it earned a second printing with a high cyberprofile (e.g., MostlyFiction.com) and glowing comments from publications like the Believer (“A masterly, multivoiced, mood-altering mystery”).
Anderson, Paul. Hunger’s Brides. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1541-3. $35.
At nearly 1400 pages, this richly reimagined biography of Mexican poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (blended with a contemporary love story) was one of the season’s big debuts. Sales were good, with a strong response from librarians, states the publisher. “An extraordinary debut novel” (LJ 6/1/05).
Bailey, Tom. The Grace That Keeps This World. Shaye Arehart: Harmony. ISBN 0-307-23801-6. $24.
This “modern-day version of a Greek tragedy…moves slowly and beautifully toward an indelible disaster” (Washington Post Book World), but the novel itself is a triumph, winning strong reviews and a BookSense nod in October. (LJ 9/1/05)
Clark, Clare. The Great Stink: A Novel of Corruption and Murder Beneath the Streets of Victorian London. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-101161-3. $25.
Up for a Pendleton May First Novel award in Clark’s native England, this Victorian thriller “was covered everywhere [in America],” says the publicist, “with almost universally positive reviews.” A sample from the New York Times: “At moments of such lyrical brilliance and sensory precision, the book is literally breathtaking.” (LJ 7/05)
Domingue, Ronlyn. The Mercy of Thin Air. Atria: S. & S. ISBN 0-7432-7880-1. $24.
A finalist for the Borders Original Voices Award (and a BookSense pick as well), this novel is indeed original; its heroine is the spirit of a young woman long deceased. “One of those novels that gets under your skin” (LJ 7/05).
Evans, Diana. 26a. Morrow. ISBN 0-06-082091-8. $23.95.
Featuring part-English, part-Nigerian twins who end up living at 26a Waifer Street, London, this debut starts out feeling mythic and roars to a “harrowing and unexpected end…that’s worth the wait” (New York Times). Not surprisingly, this work won the Orange Prize for New Writers and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award. (LJ 9/1/05)
Fisher, Karen. A Sudden Country. Random. ISBN 1-4000-6322-1. $24.95.
“Powerful as the historical notes are, the novel’s themes of love and connection, resolution of grief…transcend the Western genre to resonate with all readers. Buy this book!” High praise (LJ 7/05), echoed in trade and consumer publications nationwide. Both a BookSense and a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association best seller, this book is already exhausting a third printing.
Freeman, Brian. Immoral. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. ISBN 0-312-34042-7. $22.95.
Two girls disappear, and a detective tries to reconstruct what happened. Reviewers everywhere agree that “[Freeman’s] is a talent to watch” (LJ 8/05).
Gregory, Dick. Dinner with a Perfect Stranger. WaterBrook: Random. ISBN 1-57856-905-2. $12.95.
The “perfect stranger” is Christ, and this “dinner” has been served to over 250,000 guests so far. Good media coverage, from NPR to the Ron Insana Show, has kept things perking.
Hicks, Robert. The Widow of the South. Warner. ISBN 0-446-50012-7. $24.95.
As the New York Times pointed out (“The Fall Season’s Winners and Losers,” December 7, 2005), Hicks’s debut was the other big Civil War novel this fall, along with E.L. Doctorow’s The March. It even sat on the Times best sellers list for six weeks. “Compellingly told” (LJ 6/15/05).
Iweala, Uzodinma. Beasts of No Nation. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-079867-X. $16.95.
A BookSense pick. A Discover Great New Writers pick. A Discover Great New Writers Award finalist. An LJ Editors’ pick for Fall 2005. Four stars from People. An A from Entertainment Weekly. All this, and uniformly glowing reviews (e.g., “outstanding,” the New York Times), spell success for this lacerating tale of a child soldier in Africa. (LJ 9/1/05)
James, Marlon. John Crow’s Devil. Akashic. ISBN 1-888451-82-3. $19.95.
When two men of God have a showdown in 1950s Jamaica, the result is “150 proof literary rum guaranteed to intoxicate and enchant” (LJ 10/1/05). Launched by an LJ star, this work ran through two printings and was proclaimed an Editors’ Choice in the New York Times Book Review.
Kunkel, Benjamin. Indecision. Random. ISBN 1-4000-6345-0. $21.95.
“My advice? Read this,” recommended the Washington Post Book World, and though the protagonist of this very funny tale is a bit of a Hamlet, readers themselves didn’t dither; the book has already gone through five printings. (LJ 7/05)
Lalami, Laila. Hope & Other Dangerous Pursuits. Algonquin. ISBN 1-56512-493-6. $21.95.
Specific in setting, universal in appeal, this BookSense pick offers “an eloquent, fascinating glimpse into Moroccan culture” while “bear[ing] witness to the human spirit” (LJ 9/1/05).
Lynch, Jim. The Highest Tide. Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-605-4. $23.95.
“In his smart, winning, and unpretentiously lyrical debut novel…Lynch has crafted what may be a first: a page-turner with the sea as its most vivid character.” Like the Seattle Weekly reviewer, many readers were swept away by journalist Lynch’s debut, which was a Borders Original Voices and a BookSense pick. (LJ 7/05)
Piñol, Albert Sanchéz. Cold Skin. Farrar. ISBN 0-374-18239-6. $20.
Published in Catalan in 2002, this chilling tale (set at a weather station in the Antarctic) won the Ojo Critico Narrativa prize and has since been translated into 15 languages. “A gripping and multifaceted allegory certain to be savored by many readers of intellectual fiction” (LJ 9/15/05).
Sharfeddin, Heather. Blackbelly. Bridge Works. ISBN 1-882593-97-9. $21.95.
“A good old-fashioned cowboy tale that’s as gritty as they come,” offered the Philadelphia Inquirer of this work, which lived up to its LJ star when the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association chose it as a “Best of the Northwest” pick. On the East Coast, New Hampshire’s Portsmouth Herald proclaimed it one of the five best novels of the year. (LJ 9/1/05)
Strause, Brian. Maybe a Miracle. Ballantine. ISBN 1-4000-6464-3. $21.95.
Maybe not such a miracle, with “a captivating narrator who will delight and outrage readers but…will also make them think.” Strause couldn’t get his screenplays developed, so he wrote a BookSense pick instead. (LJ 8/05)
Vinton, Victoria. The Jungle Law. MacAdam/Cage. ISBN 1-59621-149-8. $25.
This reimagining of Rudyard Kipling’s brief stay in Vermont was one of those triple-threat debuts; it was a Discover Great New Writers, BookSense, and Borders Original Voices pick. No wonder the second printing is nearly depleted. “A great story” (Washington Post Book World). (LJ 9/1/05)
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Roger Rosenblatt. Lapham Rising. Ecco: HarperCollins. Feb. New York. (LJ 12/05)| Author Information |
| Barbara Hoffert is Editor and Ann Burns is Associate Editor, LJ Book Review |
