As any book lover knows, discovering a talented author with their first work of fiction is a special feeling. Think Alice Sebold and The Lovely Bones, Zadie Smith and White Teeth or Kathryn Stockett and The Help. In our August issue, which hits shelves (and our website) today, we’re highlighting 12 exciting new voices in two interviews and a feature. In today’s contest, you can win books by four of them! Click on each book jacket to learn more.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment telling us what your most memorable first novel was.
CONTEST DETAILS: One winner will be chosen by random.org from among entries received by 5 pm CST on Friday, August 3. The winner will receive copies of The Light Between Oceans, Battleborn, City of Women and In the Shadow of the Banyan. Prize must be shipped to a North American address, and Rhode Island residents are not eligible. (Full contest rules here.) Good luck!
—
ETA: Congratulations to our winner, Donna! She says that her book club “absolutely loves debut novels so I try to find them when I can.” Her most recent favorite debut was Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman.
Thanks to all who entered! Contest is now closed.
The most memorable first novel I have ever read is, She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. Although there are many books that I have enjoyed through the years, none have held my interest from the first to the last page as this book.
My most memorable first novel was MARGERIE MORNINGSTAR by Herman Wouk…I was in my early teens at the time.
If “first novel” means debut novel by an author, I have enjoyed many of those recently. It seems I am finding more and more of them better than my old faves. If you mean the first novel I ever read, gosh!, that was so long ago. My teen years were spent basically living at the library. We would also get those Readers Digest books with the four or five books in one, and I loved those!!! I would read everything.
In recent times my most memorable first novel was The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. A emotional rollercoaster of a story in the end it was a deeply satisfying read. A great achievement for the author.
My first remarable novel was “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave!
I am now reading his new novel “Gold”. I really enjoy his work!
Sorry typed too fast and left out the “k” from remarkable!
My most memorable novel was THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER by Kathleen Woodiwiss. It introduced me to the wonderful world of romance novels and inspiring me later to write one.
Wow! This really made me think, I would have to say “Less than Zero” by Bret Easton Ellis.
Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson is a wonderful debut, can’t wait for another one from him.
A memorable novel that was extraordinary was A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.
I absolutely loved The Night Circus! And Age of Miracles, of course.
My first memorable debut novel was just recently. It was the Hangman’s Daughter.
I loved Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was the most memorable debut novel that I’ve read.
I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger! So engaging I read it twice.
Clown Girl by Monica Drake
One of my all time favorites
Everything is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer.
Favorite debut novel – The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern….no wait, it has to be A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness….no wait, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson…no wait, A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash…. no wait, (I think you get the picture).
Loved Kate Morton’s the Forgotten Garden!
I enjoyed “The Friday Night Knitting. Club” by Kate Jacobs.
It would have to be THE STAND by Stephen King.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Little women first novel I read on my own.
My most memorable first novel was most definitely ‘Ramona’ by Helen Hunt Jackson. I read this when I was 14 yrs. old and it opened me to a world of adventure, romance, and raw humanity. It was a novel written with not just whimsy but a truth to the human struggle. It made me realize just how powerful the written word can be to our human instinct.
My bookclub absolutely loves debut novels so I try to find them when I can. My most recent debut novel was loaned to me by one of my club members, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. I’ll definitely be looking for more from this author!
The Lake of the Dead Languages by Carol Goodman—beautifully written
I love discovering new authors! It is like buried treasure!
Pick me! Please!,
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
LOVE Bookpage and debut novels are MY favorite.
It’s very hard to to limit to one, but I’ll pick The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The Time Travelers Wife and To Kill a Mockingbird
So many to choose from, but probably Will Lavender’s Obedience.
My most memorable first novel was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.
My favorite was “The Help”, it was so good!
Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is my most recently memorable first novel although I know there are many others.
I’ve read so many great debut novels over the years! My pick would be The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling, Carrie by Stephen King, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories by Lorraine Lopez…too many to list!
The book that started it all – both my reading and my acquisitiveness for books – was Big Red, purchased through the grade school Scholastic Book Program. I was/am hooked!
I had to give this lots of thought…put to pick one? Harper Lee’s, “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn. More recently, The Hangman’s Daughter, O. Potszch and The Watchers, Jon Steele. Great reads, all.
The most memoriable first novel would have to be Memoirs of a Geisha….it’s transporting
I loved Beth Hoffman’s, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.
“The Age of Miracles” by Karen Walker Thompson!
U’ve discovered so many new authors through BookPage, that it’s hard to enumerate, and many have become long time favorites. Currently I’m reading “Mudwoman” by Joyce Carol Oats….. Not a new author, but one who I’ve always enjoyed.
I would have to say my most memorable first novel is “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” by Michael Chabon. My mother got me an autographed copy when it first came out when I was 15. Being from Pittsburgh, I have a special attachment to the novel’s setting, but the story spoke to me and continues to do so to this day.
Hands down….TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee.
The most memorable first novel I read was The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. I could not put it down and the story stayed with me for weeks after. I loved the message that family is not just blood, but those people that love you and who you love. I can not wait for her next novel and the continuation of the story. Great book.
In my pre-teens, it was The Secret Garden and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Then it was Gone With the Wind.
I very favorite first novel is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I remember finishing it and thinking there’s no way this could be his first book… it was amazing.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
The Help.
So hard to choose, but I would have to say “The Chosen” by Chaim Potok.
“Harriet the Spy.” It made me feel not so alone in the universe. It made me feel ok about my own writings and observations about my neighborhood. I was always the nerdy girl with her head in a book. Louise Fitzhugh was my hero for writing that book. I am 54 years old and I still have my original copy.
Oh my word….my first memorable one?? That was so long ago! I think the first one I relished was The President’s Lady. It was about Andrew Jackson. I found it downstairs in a box of books my Mom had packed away, and I devoured it! I don’t know who the author was. I was maybe 12? I think it was written in the 50′s. I’d love someday to find another copy.
In recent times my most memorable first novel was The Art of Hearing Hartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. The story was so beautiful.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Just finished Gold and loved it also.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a pretty memorable debut
Also: Harry Potter!
I was a hard-core R.L. Stine reader when I was younger. I still have a “sizeable” collection of the Goosebumps books.
Have read so many over the years….it’s hard to say. One of the most memorable was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
One of the best debut novels of all time is surely The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Beautiful, dark and a pure masterpiece.
Just finished a thrilling debut entitled “The Professionals” by Owen Laukkanen. Most impressive debut–”To Kill a Mockingbird”! Millions of high school kids get to read it every year. Wish I had written it!
Still Alice by Lisa Genova was a major Wow for me. I found it hard to believe that a book so wonderful was a first novel.
I loved We the Animals by Justin Torres! The voice was so unique yet readable and the ending really blew me away!
I’m torn between “Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Both were wonderful and made me want to continue reading their authors.
Years ago I read TAI PAN by James Clavell. It was such a good book I read SHOGUN and KING RAT.
My first memorable book was the outsiders. It was required reading for my english class. I ended up reading the whole book in one weekend. That story has stayed with me.
Discovering a debut novel is like finding a hidden-gem bakery or restaurant! Recently, I greatly enjoyed the Innocents by Francesca Segal and The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.
THE ART OF FIELDING was wonderful!
My most memorable first novel (at least I think it was a first novel) is “The Little Giant of Aberdeen County” by Tiffany Baker.
My favorite debut novel is READY PLAYER ONE by Ernie Cline. Hope to read more by Ernie!
My favorite was To Kill A Mockingbird
It would have to be Stephen Kings’ The Shinning. It scared me to death but I could not stop reading it!
Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell.
If I go back to first – perhaps A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
My very favorite was Gone with the Wind,I read over & over and have seen it over&over..
Catcher in the Rye
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I don’t think any first book contains such poignant lessons of courage and loss of innocence. This book was beautifully and courageously written at a crucial moment in our country’s history, and contains lessons that still resonate today.
Love finding new authors! Some of my favorite debut novels include, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Little Bee by Chris Cleave (even though it’s not his first actual novel written, and by the way his new book, Gold, is excellent!!), and in juvenile literature, The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats.
Sister, by Rosamund Lupton. The plot and pacing was so impressive for a debut novel.
Katie
I agree! SISTER was a most truly engaging debut novel!
Gone With the Wind–but as I read the picks from other readers, I saw many books that I had read that were just as memorable.
If by first memorable book I read – that would be “gone with the wind”
however my most memorable book was “Year of Wonders” by Geraldine Brooks
I have two novels that are debut reads that really have stuck with me, and I have reread them several times. ‘The Lovely Bones’ by Alice Sebold and ‘She’s Come Undone’ Wally Lamb. They are both beautiful reads that I will never forget. Thanks for the chance!
House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni
Evergreen by Belva Plain
The Night Circus and A Discovery of Witches – it’s a tie! Loved them both.
I’m sure there have been many that I’ve enjoyed, but the most recent probably was The Help.
One of the best first novels I have read recently A Surrey state of affairs by Ceri Radford A 50 something woman who is clueless about what is going on around her tries to fix everything
One of the best debut novels I’ve read in awhile was The Informationist by Taylor Stevens.
Jennifer: I, too, thought this was a great debut novel!
The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent and The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carlton
I say it would be “White Fang” by Jack London. It stuck with me for a long time…due to the characters and the location of the book.
I have to go back about 50 years and pick “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Does it get any better?
There have been many, but “To Kill a Mockingbird” was the first.
One of the most memorable novels – meaning a novel that I’ll never forget – not that it’s my favorite; but stuff from the story just pops up into my mind at the oddest times – It by Steven King. I read it after it came out yrs and yrs ago. I don’t read horror novels anymore.
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini.
My first and always favorite is “She” by H. Rider Haggard, published in 1887. It was my introduction to fantasy and adventure.
Gone with the Wind!
Wow, so many good books already mentioned!
One of my favorite novelists had me with her first, Tracy Chevalier with “Girl with the Pearl Earring.”
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Fabiola or, the Church of the Catacombs is a novel by the English Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman.
The novel was “read” to my freshman english class – the way the Sister read the novel, more than the novel itself was truly memorable. It was a long time ago and I can still hear her voice.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” has always been my favorite.
“The Stranger” by Albert Camus
A fantastic introduction to fiction for a seven year old =)
First novels have provided me with any number of unexpected, pleasant surprises! Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated, Christopher Bram’s In Memory of Angel Clare, Donna Taart’s The Secret History, Stephen Macauley’s The Object of My Affection, Scott Heim’s Mysterious Skin are just a few that pop into my mind that have made me follow specific authors and eagerly await their next contribution to the literary canon.
I have to say The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen!
My most memorable first novel was A Time to Kill by John Grisham. Ihave been hooked on legal thrillers since I read this book in the late 80′s.
My most memorable first novel was Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I enjoyed it so much upon finishing it, I immediately started re-reading it.
Hard to think of just one but my most memorable novel was “Plainsong” and have followed Kent Haruf ever since.
My most recent memorable first novel was A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash
Special Topics in Calamity Physics! Can’t wait to see what she writes next. I would love to win.
Have read many first novels over the years, but recently A Good American and The Book of Madness and Cures come to mind.
By the iowa sea by Joe Blair
I enjoyed “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry as well as the movie.
Nancy Drew!! Loved that girl!!! Then Victoria Holt and her gothic novels. I am really dating myself. The Bobbies Twins and then of course went on to many, many books. Now of course any good mystery is my favorite.
My most memorable first novel had to be Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews. Up until then I had been reading the Sweet Valley High books and other cotton candy type books as a middle schooler, but when I read the dark haunting Flowers in the Attic a whole other world opened up for me. I realized not only did I like Gothic type books (I don’t recall them being called Gothic back in the day, lol). It was just a book that opened up the door to a world of books and a willingness to branch out into other genres!
Looks like an amazing giveaway! A number of books right off my wishlist! Thanks for the opportunity to enter!
The first memorable debut novel I read and enjoyed was TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. It was a reading assignment when I was in high school back in the sixties! more recently I found The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry interesting.
Of course, of course, Gone With the Wind! Loved it. My granddaughter and daughter recently watched the old movie and loved it, too.
I have been going to the Library since I was a child, every Saturday morning. Thinking back was hard to do, but “The Last of the Mohicans” by James Fenimore Cooper has to be it.
My favorite in recent memory is Richard Harvell’s The Bells. Loved it so very much!
Hands down – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It has stayed with me thru the years and I have re-read it more than once.
The most memorable first novel I read was Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. She had written an excellent short story collection before this first novel, but in the Namesake, I found the detail, the character development and the smooth flow of the plot to be remarkable for a first time novelist.
To Kill a Mockingbird, of course.
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash, an absolutely fantastic 1st novel! Anxiously awaiting his 2nd!
My most recent memorable debut is:
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
A beautifully written and complex work of fabulism.
My mother helped me read Little Women in 4th grade. I’ll never forget the feeling of finding out that books hold such wonderful stories that were more than just a few pages long.
I would have to say my first memorable debut was the Kite Runner. I read it a few years ago, but sticks with me to this day!
The most recent debut work I’ve loved was Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber.
I love reading debut novels, and Book Page is a good place to find them. One in particular was The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. I still get a chill thinking of that one.
Craig Johnson’s debut contemporary western mystery, “The Cold Dish”, got me hooked. After eight novels, I’m eagerly awaiting the next one.
There are many debuts I have enjoyed, but one of my most memorable debut reads was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Never had I read such an interesting combination of history, mystery and the supernatural. It’s was a terrific novel and an astounding debut.
My most memorable “first book” is “Woman of Independent Means” by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. For months I passed it by on the library shelf because I thought a novel written of “letters” wouldn’t interest me. Then one day I stopped and read the first letter, and I was hooked. Many years later, I can remember many details of this wonderful story and have shared many copies of the delightful book with others.
The Age of Miracles and The Help are the first that come to mind.
Definitely “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith
I have read so many books in my life. And so many memorable novels. But I would have to pick Gone With The Wind as the most memorable of any novel i have read. It wasn’t among the first novels I read but It was definitely the most remarkable, fantastical novel I have ever read.
One debut novel that stands out in my mind is “The Fig Eater” by Jody Shields…..the atmosphere stays with you and begs for a screenplay to be adapted!!
I love debut novels and look for them constantly. One I loved this year was The Age of Miracles….loved it!
Being a nurse I would like to read about Florence Nightengale. We were given a small lamp to symbolize her lightingg the way at nursing school graduation.
“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” which I read when I was 12 years old. I can still recall many incidents from the book. Two which stand out in my mind are Francie starting with letter”A” and reading all the books in the library and to wean a baby you give it the Gussie.
I read both “the Help” and “Room”. Although totally different I found both to be fantatic reads. However, your question was first memorable book which I got in a gift exchange when I was in 4th grade. The main character was Annette Funicello but I can’t remember the title. That was my introduction to novels and I haven’t been without a book since.
My absolute favorite first novel was J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I know it was considered a ‘young adult’ book but everyone was talking about it, so I decided to try it. I was hooked after the first page! I read the entire Harry Potter series. I loved spending a Sunday afternoon reading a 700 page book because they were so magical.
My most memorable first novel was The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. It wasn’t her first book but first novel. I do have other favorites but this book was very powerful to me.