2025's Debut Novels: Books to Break Your Reading Comfort Zone

My Top Five:

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh - Colwill Brown

Colwill Brown’s We Pretty Pieces of Flesh is one of my most anticipated books of this year, debut or otherwise. 

Hailing from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Brown decided to pursue her literary career in the USA; earning herself an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas, and an MA in English Literature from Boston College. After being the recipient of various scholarships and literary awards, she has decided to return to her Yorkshire roots in this debut novel about a boisterous group of friends who slowly start to drift away from each other and their hometown of Doncaster as they come of age. The prose is also written in rich Yorkshire dialect, lending the text a sense of ‘rough poetry’.

The Names - Florence Knapp

Living just outside London with her husband and their dog, Nell, Florence Knapp has built a literary career around her love for handmade textiles; writing and contributing to works on patchwork and quilting. 

Now, Knapp has decided to make her mark on the fiction world with her debut novel The Names, which is set to release this May. As the title suggests, Knapp’s novel is all about names, more specifically how far the names we’re given weave the fabric of our lives. As the reader, we follow a pregnant mother wavering on the name of her soon-to-be-born baby. What follows is three separate narrative journeys: one follows Bear, a name chosen by his sister; Julian, the name his mother originally intended; and Gordon, a name inherited from his cruel father. How will each boy grow? And to what extent will The Names determine his fate?   

This is Not a Game - Kelly Mullen

Debut novelist Kelly Mullen is making her mark on the literary world this year with her murder mystery novel, This is Not a Game. Whilst on a two-week stay at her grandmother’s during lockdown, Mullen found inspiration for the fictional characters Mimi and Addie; a crime-fighting grandmother & granddaughter duo who find themselves ensnared in an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. 

Mullen initially led a successful career in Hollywood, but when the pandemic left her housebound (as it did for so many of us) she rediscovered her childhood passion for creative writing through online writing courses. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on this thrilling piece of lockdown-inspired fiction, and support this debut novelist as she makes her mark on the fiction world.

Confessions - Catherine Airey

On the topic of lockdown literature, the next debut author on this list also found her creative spark in the reclusivity of the global pandemic. 

Sick of her job in the civil service and the back-breaking demands of London living, Catherine Airey decided to pack her bags and run for the hills - or rather, the rural countryside of West Cork, Ireland. With £3,000 to her name, Airey earned a living space supporting the restoration of a 50 ft wooden boat, even though she “knew nothing about working on boats”. Nonetheless, it gave her the space to tackle the novel she could feel building inside of her, and with publishers Viking and HarperCollins swooping up the rights in six-figure deals, Confessions is set to make a sizable mark on this year’s shelves.

The novel picks up amidst the traumatic events of 9/11; Cora Brady, the narrator, is a sixteen-year old orphan watching the horror unfold on a television screen knowing her father, an accountant working on the 104th floor of the North tower, will never come home again. Lost and alone, Cora is offered a new beginning on the bleak edges of rural island by her aunt Róisín. The reader is then led down a narrative-twisting journey into the harsh, hidden history of Cora’s recent-ancestry, unspooling the family secrets harboured in Burtonport, Donegal.

The Boy from the Sea - Garrett Carr

Also garnering recognition in the ever-expanding Irish literary scene this year, is Garrett Carre.

Much like the novel’s protagonist, Carre’s native town is Donegal, specifically Killybegs - where the novel is set. The debut fiction writer proudly tells prospective readers that “there’s a lot of [his] early life in this novel”, so if you like fiction sprinkled with autobiographical realisms: this may be the debut novel for you.

Carre’s career up until this point has focused on Ireland’s borders, offering readers a poetically presented geographical exploration of a focal point in Ireland’s rich history. Now fifty years old and stunning readers with what has been termed ‘elegant prose’, Carre reminds us that it is never too late to start making your mark.

Honourable Mentions:

Thirst Trap - Gráinne O'Hare

Ready to stir readers’ emotions this year is debut fiction writer Gráinne O'Hare, in her poignant tale of a group of friends who begin to face the harsh realities of life as the houseshare of their roaring-twenties meets a sobering end.

Nova Scotia House - Charlie Porter

Porter’s debut novel has been described as a genre-twisting work of pure force. The novel follows Johnny Grant as he reminisces on the heart-rending memories of his relationship with a man twenty-six years his senior; a love which blossoms at a time characterised by the AIDS crisis, and shifting perspectives on the gay community.