Favourite Debut Novels

New writing is the focus this month: we're launching the New Writer Awards for 2009 and are also featuring some exclusive stories from last year's New Writers. Continuing the new theme, we asked some of our staff to recommend their favourite debut novels. Have a look at what they came up with, then add a comment telling us about your favourite...

Black Sunday by Thomas Harris
This is the debut novel from Harris, who subsequently went on to create fiction’s most terrifying serial killer, Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter, in Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising.

Written in 1975, and with an all-too-plausible plot of international terrorism, this novel is arguably more relevant today, post 9/11, than when it was first published. The plot centres on a plan by Palestinian terrorists to target Superbowl Sunday, when 1,200 pounds of plastic explosives will drop from the sky, killing 80,000 fans and the US president, and turning millions of TV viewers across the country into horrified witnesses.

The chilling psychological intrigue of the Hannibal Lecter series is present in every disturbingly authentic character and on every page of Black Sunday. The relentless action, underpinned by a reminder of just how vulnerable the United States really is, makes for a suspenseful read which may generate as many nightmares in Harris fans as the words "Fava Beans and Chianti". (Helen Croney)

Boyracers by Alan Bissett
I picked this up in Waterstones (its cover was great) shortly after moving to Edinburgh to attend university. The book immediately struck a chord with me: I could draw certain parallels between Alvin’s life and my own – and suddenly I felt that this big city wasn’t so big anymore, I was not the only or first person to be worried about leaving home and friends behind, life is a wonderful adventure where opportunities must be grasped and most importantly I was not alone.

The laughter that spilled from the pages, the hilarious and sometimes daft situations that the friends from a small town found themselves in, the coming-of-age, the musical references all contributed to a brilliant read and me passing it round my new-found friends.

It wasn’t until much later that I discovered this was a debut novel. (Chris Newton)

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
Aubrey’s father and younger sister have been killed in a car crash. Her mum can’t really cope with the situation and abandons her 11 year old daughter. Aubrey has enough Spaghetti-O’s to look after herself, but she worries what people might think of her mum, so she doesn’t tell anybody that she is all alone.

This is the beautiful, sad but life-affirming story of Aubrey coping with loss, both of her father and sister, but also the abandonment by her mother. Her grandmother finds her and takes her to Vermont where she spends her time dealing with everyday situations which have become really difficult for her.

I laughed and cried with Aubrey. She is a very serious character, which makes her plight even harder to bear. I thoroughly recommend it. (Jasmine Fassl)

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
I read The London Eye Mystery in one sitting last Saturday. It’s a really good old-fashioned children’s sleuth novel with a twist – the main character has Asperger’s, or as he puts it, his 'brain runs on a different kind of operating system'. His Aunt Gloria and cousin Salim come from Manchester to stay with Ted and his family en route to New York, where they’re, in Salim’s case very reluctantly, making their new home. Salim’s desperate to 'fly the London eye' so off they go to the South Bank, where Ted and his sister Kat clearly see Salim getting into one of the pods of the London Eye, and yet when that same pod comes back down to earth, Salim is no longer aboard. Everyone is baffled, and as it becomes clear the adults can’t help, it’s left to Kat and Ted to solve this mystery.

I am a huge fan of this type of seemingly unsolvable crime in books and I think it’s rare to find it done so well in children's books – why I don't know, because my guess is children enjoy this just as much, if not more, than adults. What makes this even more unique is Ted's voice – his condition means he describes things just as they are, and his obsession with the weather is used as a beautiful metaphor for his own feelings and instincts – instincts which lead him to the correct solution before any adult comes near to finding it.
Publication was delayed because halfway through writing it The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, also featuring a main character with Asperger’s, came out, making this Siobhan’s second instead of debut novel.

Siobhan died at the tragically young age of 47 in August 2007, and her last two books, Bog Child (this year’s Carnegie Medal winner) and Solace of the Road were published posthumously. Bog Child is next on my list – if it’s even half as good as her first(/second!) I know I’ve got a real treat in store. (Anna Gibbons)