Interesting Upstart Debuts

California
by Edan Lepucki

Lepucki’s post-apocalyptic novel got a pre-sale boost from Stephen Colbert’s campaign against Amazon on behalf of Hachette. It’s a much-deserved shout-out:
California is an arresting, haunting number, punctured by the broken remnants of the American dream.
(Random House, September)

Panic in a Suitcase
by Yelena Akhtiorskaya

n+1 favorite Akhtiorskaya’s debut novel traces two decades in the life of a Russian immigrant family settling in Brooklyn, drawn from the author’s own experience as an Odessa native raised in Brighton Beach.
(Riverhead, July)

We Are Not Ourselves
by Matthew Thomas

When Simon & Schuster snapped up Matthew Thomas’ tender tale of a family crashing against the rocks of a debilitating illness, he was teaching high school in New York. His advance, upwards of a million dollars, raised eyebrows in the publishing establishment, and guarantees that this novel will be a hot conversation topic.
(Simon & Schuster, August)

2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas
by Marie-Helene Bertino

The tale of a sassy aspiring jazz singer nine-year-old who stumbles into one of Philadelphia’s iconic music joints, Brooklyn College MFA Bertino’s enchanting first novel is a loving portrait of her hometown as much as an after-school adventure.
(Crown, August)

Ugly Girls
by Lindsay Hunter

Hunter already has two collections of vivacious, gothic short stories out, the sort of voice-driven morsels that lead the literary establishment to keep an eye out. Ugly Girls tackles a subject much in debate these days, the vicissitudes and vistas of a deep female friendship, in this case between characters Perry and Baby Girl.
(FSG, November)