BOOK OF THE YEAR FICTION: DÉBUT


OVERVIEW                


HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY Bella Mackie’s satirical- homicidal novel was a top- selling hardback début in 2021, appealing to fans of her non- fiction and beyond. Targeted online advertising and working closely with Waterstones and indie booksellers meant How to Kill Your Family entered the charts at number two, before staying in the top 10 for a further six weeks.


ASSEMBLY Said to be in conversation with Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party”, in Assembly Natasha Brown offers a devastating portrait of modern Britain. An extraordinary new voice, her economical, power- ful prose has resonated with the public and critics alike, achieving 25 major reviews and closing 2021 as the UK’s 10th-bestselling début novel.


PUBLISHERS 1 THE BOROUGH PRESS 2 PICADOR 3 MANTLE 4 HAMISH HAMILTON 5 VIKING 6 CANONGATE


OPEN WATER Acquired in a nine-way auction, the Costa First Novel Award-winning Open Water is a love story between two Black artists in a world that demands strength over vulnerability. Caleb Azumah Nelson’s novel garnered glowing early endorsements and Viking reached beyond a traditional book-buying audience with a trailer posted across social media with links to all retailers.


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MRS DEATH MISSES DEATH Salena Godden’s highly origi- nal début is a playful experi- ment with form and voice from the acclaimed performance and published poet, with a message of hope and activism that was well received by read- ers. Canongate crafted a standout beautiful cover, inspired by the text’s imagery, to create a package as power- ful as Godden’s writing.


LUSTER “A taut, sharp, funny book about being young now. It’s brutal—and brilliant,” says Zadie Smith of Luster, the story of a young Black woman fighting to stay afloat in New York City’s gig economy. Raven Leilani’s novel was bolstered by a striking cover, a bold word-of-mouth campaign and the US-based author’s willing- ness to participate in online events to promote it in the UK.


SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN The retelling of the rise of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emp- eror is gender-flipped historical fiction. Shelley Parker-Chan’s novel follows Zhu, the sole survivor in a family ravaged by famine, who takes her brother’s identity and, later, his destiny. The hardback benefit- ted from a striking jacket and custom endpapers, and has been reprinted nine times.


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© Emiliano Atzori © Simon Booth


© Miranda Barnes


© Harvard Wang


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