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The rising stars of 2026: discover the must-read debut novels of the year

The rising stars of 2026: discover the must-read debut novels of the year

by Penguin editors

22 January 2026

min read

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Explore a crumbling English manor where each room hides a secret, witness the development of a video game that could change the future, and join three friends as they drive through Manchester on an adrenaline-fuelled night out that spirals into chaos. These are just some of the standout debut novels to look out for in 2026.

We speak to the authors to learn more about their unmissable upcoming books, where they found inspiration, and their unique paths to publication. Which will you read first?

The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski

Step inside the crumbling stately manor of the Gilbert family, once described by a local newspaper as ‘a bunch of lunatics’. Our guide is Maximus, the family legacy's keeper, who leads us through obscure rooms and forgotten objects, allowing the house itself to speak: of war and illness, of family dysfunction and enduring love, and of lives lived and lives that might have been. Unfortunately, for the Gilberts, their home will soon be sold for development.

The Infamous Gilberts has been a long time coming for author Angela Tomaski, "the book took twenty years of thinking, planning, drafting, and various false starts," she says. The result is a dark, brooding novel a unique spin on the gothic genre, which has already received comparisons to The Remains of the Day and Wuthering Heights.

Read if you like: Gothic novels, family drama with atmospheric settings; Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

The Infamous Gilberts is out 5th March

Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam

Three friends drive around Manchester, looking for distractions and finding disaster in this explosive, emotionally raw novel that won the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize. Author Sufiyaan Salam says of his book he wanted to explore "young men on a night out, and how their inability to really tell each other about the individual horrors that stir in their hearts makes the whole thing go tits up."

Each of the three men carries “emotional baggage that extends beyond heartbreak,” Salam adds. Growing up working-class and as men of colour they’re also impacted by “the legacy of English racism, and just generally this feeling of paranoia that’s certainly dogged me my entire life.”

Wimmy Road Boyz was partly shaped by the time it was written in, including the 2024 race riots in the UK and attacks on Gaza. “Without wanting to dilute the horror of those moments, it also taught me a lot about community,” Salam says. “I saw how important it was to sit with friends over a plate of food and make light of the end of the world, to march with thousands of others for Palestine. There’s funny sections and brutal sections of the novel inspired by these events.”

Read if you like: Ulysses by James Joyce, movies like La Haine, Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, Maad City.

Wimmy Road Boyz is out 28th May

Big Nobody by Alex Kadis

Constance Costa is determined to do three things: kill her father (AKA “The Fat Murderer”), get away from dreary East London and her larger-than-life Greek-Cypriot community (with her best friend Vas, of course), and become a Somebody (preferably a rockstar selling out stadiums). But with her 16th birthday fast approaching, she could be running out of time; The Fat Murderer is only getting more unbearable to live with, and if she wants to forge her own destiny, she’ll have to get out from under his yoke… 

Alex Kadis was inspired by her own British-Greek heritage and East London upbringing, as well as the social backdrop of 1970s Britain, in creating her feisty protagonist. “Constance is a precursor to that third wave of feminism which happened in the 90s,” she said. “I like to think she is one of the women who went on to challenge stereotypes, to promote inclusivity, to speak up against racism and sexism, to support the LBGTQ+ movement.”

Read it if you like: How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie, 70s music and culture, coming-of-age-stories.

Big Nobody is out 5th March

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash

To say that the Flynn family is dysfunctional would be an understatement. Bud is on a downward spiral after Catherine suggested (or rather, instructed) that they open up their marriage. Eldest daughter Abigail is dating a former soldier known as War Crimes Wes, while middle child Louise is flying under the radar as she falls deeper into a questionable online romance, and Harper, the restless prodigy of the family, has turned her talents to investigating possible corruption by Paul Alabaster, the billionaire who looms large over their small coastal town. She’s convinced that there’s more to Alabaster Harbor than meets the eye, as she digs into a conspiracy that threatens to entangle the whole family.

Lost Lambs was originally a short story, written by Madeline Cash on evenings and weekends while she worked as a copywriter. With influences ranging from Don DeLillo, Helen Dewitt, and Jonathan Franzen, to the illustrations of Henry Darger, this unique, funny read is an American family novel for the digital age.

Read it if you like: Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly; absurdist novels about quirky, chaotic families; books with laugh-out-loud funny moments. 

Lost Lambs is out 5th February

Homebound by Portia Elan

Homebound is Portia Elan’s boldly ambitious, genre-bending debut, taking readers on a journey from 1983 to 2586. Through science, technology and video games, the novel explores grief, loss and love.

Beautiful in its queerness, it is also rich with emotional memory, carrying the hopefulness forged in hard times for the LGBTQ+ community. "In sixth grade, I did a report on the AIDS quilt. This was in the late nineties … and although the quilt doesn’t show up in Homebound, I think that sense of loss is there," says Elan.

The novel's prose is lyrical, often slipping into poetry, and reflects a wide range of influences. "I often turn to poetry for inspiration," Elan explains. "Lynda Hull, Robert Hass, Joy Harjo, Jane Kenyon, Adrienne Rich. Poems ask us to slow down, to see the familiar anew, to allow ourselves to be recognised."

Homebond charts humanity's progress and its possible futures, leaving us with urgent questions about where we might be headed next.

Read if you like: The Dropout; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

Homebound is out 7th May

The Exes by Leodora Darlington

“While I love watching the kind of relationships women yearn for, I was taken by the idea of a woman driven to write letters not out of love, but fear and anger.” says publisher-turned-author Leodora Darlington.

Her debut thriller, The Exes, follows Natalie, who, after an argument with her husband, suddenly realises she is holding a knife. What unfolds is a dark tale of secrets, past relationships, and buried resentments – forces that have, in different ways, pushed Natalie to the brink.

“Making Natalie’s voice feel fresh and her character unforgettable was so important to me,” Darlington explains. “Using story as a vehicle for safe – if confronting – analysis of our world, and what it means to be human is something I deeply enjoy.” Through Natalie’s story, Darlington explores the questions that preoccupy her: how disparities in power can introduce conflict and anger into a relationship and what it really means to be happy.

Read it if you like: To All the Boys I've Loved Before; twisty thrillers; Killing Eve.

The Exes is out 12th February

From left to right: Colwill Brown, Claire Lynch and Emma Nanami Strenner.<br><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/460689/we-pretty-pieces-of-flesh-by-brown-colwill/9781784745578"></a>

A Bad, Bad, Place by Frances Crawford

Twelve-year-old Janey is walking her dog Sid Vicious when she encounters the unimaginable: the corpse of a brutally murdered young woman. Traumatised and reluctant to share her full story, Janey and her nana Maggie are sucked into the Police’s investigation – as well as the rumours that inevitably do the rounds among their tight-knit community in Glasgow’s Possilpark.

Frances Crawford spent two years writing and self-editing this funny yet poignant novel, inspired by her own working-class upbringing in 1970s Glasgow. “This was an era characterised by poverty, social exclusion and crime,” she said, “but I wanted to contrast this with the innate goodness of the protagonists and the support networks which exist in marginalised communities like Possilpark.” With a murder mystery at its heart, Crawford also wanted to highlight “the flawed treatment of female victims and witnesses by police and media at the time,” and question how much has changed over the years. The result is a touching read, with characters that will stay with you long after the final page.

Read it if you like: The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey; late-70s punk; uplifting stories with dual-perspective narrators.

A Bad, Bad, Place is out 12th February

If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle

Kate Eberle’s debut novel was inspired by a meme. Specifically, a Bernie Sanders meme she sent to her sister after reading Emily Henry’s Beach Read that said: “I am once again asking Emily Henry to write my life.” And so, the idea for If Books Could Kill was born.

The story begins with Roxie, who makes a wish to live out the plot of her favourite romance writer’s next novel. Miraculously, her wish is granted – only the author is writing not a swoon-worthy romance, but a thriller. Roxie teams up with crime fiction-lover Grant as they try to survive this plot twist (and, perhaps, find their own Happily Ever After).

The fun, inventive plot was also inspired by online book communities. “If Books Could Kill is very meta in a lot of ways,” Eberle explains. “Roxie and Grant are both readers who know they’re in a book, so they have their eyes open to all kinds of tropes and plot conventions as they go along.”

Read if you like: Emily Henry, Argylle by Elly Conway, Isn’t It Romantic.

If Books Could Kill is out 16th June

This, My Second Life by Patrick Charnley

Patrick Charnley’s debut novel was born from a profound turning point. After surviving a near-death experience, Charnley stepped away from his corporate career and redirected his energy towards writing. The result is This, My Second Life: a deeply moving portrait of 20-year-old Jago, whose own brush with death leads him to live a simpler existence on a small coastal farm in Cornwall with his uncle. As they embrace the gentle rhythms of the seasons, their peace is threatened by a local villain intent on claiming their land, forcing Jago to confront a dark underworld.

If this novel sounds like the makings of a classic children’s adventure, that’s no accident. “I absolutely had in mind The Famous Five books when I was writing.” Says Charnley “ After my cardiac arrest and brain injury, I felt like I was in a childlike state, the outside world overwhelmed me and the innocence of books like The Famous Five and The Secret Seven – with their daring-do and classic baddies – appealed to me very deeply.”

Charnley, who is the son of the late author Helen Dunmore, also draws a connection to his mother’s work. “I wanted that continuity,” he explains. “So, I reincarnated the character of Granny Carne from her Ingo Series.”

This story of survival and the possibility of new beginnings is not one to miss.

Read it if you like: Helen Dunmore; family drama; books set in Cornwall.

This, My Second Life is out now

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