For many people the start of a new year is a time to try new things. Why not include a new novelist or two? Listed below are a dozen debut novels due out early in 2012. Place your holds now and avoid the rush.
Above All Things (M)
by Tanis Rideout
(Canadian author: March release)
“Into Thin Air meets The Paris Wife in this captivating debut novel that weaves together the harrowing story of George Mallory’s doomed attempt to be the first man to conquer Mt. Everest with that of his wife as she journeys through a single, quietly momentous day, awaiting his return.” – Publisher
by Patrick Flanery
(March release)
“In this stunning literary debut, Patrick Flanery delivers a devastating and intimate portrait of post-apartheid South Africa, and the perils of taking sides when the sides are changing around you. Told in shifting perspectives, Absolution is centred on the mysterious character of Clare Wald, a controversial writer of great fame, haunted by the memories of a sister she fears she betrayed to her death and a daughter she fears she abandoned. ” – Publisher
by Benjamin Wood
(March release)
“Part Secret History, part Brideshead Revisited for the 21st century, The Bellwether Revivals is a page-turning, romantic, eerie tale of genius and, possibly, madness; a stunning debut for fans of Sarah Waters, Donna Tartt, and Lauren Goff.” – Publisher
by Matt Lennox
(Canadian author: February release)
“Debut novelist Matt Lennox is an exciting new voice on the literary scene. His first novel, The Carpenter, is a suspenseful, tightly plotted story set in a god-fearing small town in the eighties, rife with poisonous secrets, grudges passed on through the generations, and a dark undercurrent of crime.” – Publisher
by Jennifer DuBois
(March release)
“In Jennifer duBois’s mesmerizing and exquisitely rendered debut novel, a long-lost letter links two disparate characters, each searching for meaning against seemingly insurmountable odds.” – Publisher
by Cristina Alger
(February release)
“Cristina Alger’s glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover—or cover up—the truth. With echoes of a fictional Too Big to Fail and the novels of Dominick Dunne, The Darlings offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society—a world seldom seen by outsiders—and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.” -Publisher
by Chris Pavone
(March release)
“Kate Moore is an expat mum, newly transplanted from Washington D.C. In the cobblestoned streets of Luxembourg, her days are filled with play dates and coffee mornings, her weekends spent in Paris or skiing in the Alps. Kate is also guarding a secret – one so momentous it could destroy her neat little expat life – and she suspects that another American couple are not who they claim to be; plus her husband is acting suspiciously… A thrilling debut-to-remember, Chris Pavone’s The Expats will keep you guessing until the very end.” -Publisher
by Mark Allen Smith
(January release)
“A spectacularly original thriller about a professional torturer who has a strict code, a mysterious past, and a dangerous conviction that he can save the life of an innocent child… Mesmerizing and heart-in-your-throat compelling, The Inquisitor is a completely unique thriller that introduces both an unforgettable protagonist and a major new talent in Mark Allen Smith.” -Publisher
by Owen Laukkanen
(April release)
“Four friends, recent college graduates, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it’s no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise—quick, efficient, low-risk—works like a charm. Until they kidnap the wrong man… A finger-burning page-turner, filled with twists, surprises, and memorably complex characters,
The Professionals marks the arrival of a remarkable new writer.” -Publisher
Song of Achilles (M)
by Madeline Miller
(March release)
“Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.” -Publisher
by Corban Addison
(January release)
” When a tsunami rages through their coastal town in India, 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita are left orphaned and homeless. With almost everyone they know suddenly erased from the face of the earth, the girls set out for the convent where they attend school. They are abducted almost immediately and sold to a Mumbai brothel owner, beginning a hellish descent into the bowels of the sex trade… Corban Addison leads readers on a chilling, eye-opening journey into Mumbai’s seedy underworld–and the nightmare of two orphaned girls swept into the international sex trade.” -Publisher
by Alex Adams
(April release)
“White Horse is the first book in an absolutely unique debut trilogy—a post-apocalyptic thriller chronicling one woman’s quest to nurture those she holds dear against the backdrop of a shocking, new world. Thirty-year-old Zoe wants to go back to college. That’s why she cleans cages and floors at GeneTech. If she can keep her head down, do her job, and avoid naming the mice she’ll be fine. Her life is calm, maybe even boring, until the end of the world when the President of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species.” -Publisher
Source: http://www.thereader.ca/2008/12/12-new-novelists-for-2012.html