Forsyth County Public Library: Reader's Corner: 2026 Dazzling Debuts

Dazzling Debuts

All the Water in the World
by Eiren Caffall

In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister, her parents, and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city's flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they've saved. Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story-with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. In the spirit of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most–love and work, community and knowledge–will survive.

Disorientation
by Elaine Hsieh Chou

A struggling PhD student makes a shocking discovery about a famous Chinese American poet that sets into motion a series of escalating events, both humorous and fraught, that culminates in an incendiary reckoning of her relationships, beliefs, and identity.

Cat Fight
by Kit Conway

Big Little Lies meets Tiger King in this fun and propulsive debut novel about three suburban women who, over the course of one summer, each use the growing hysteria around a big cat sighting to achieve their own agendas–some more sinister than others. Former zoologist Coralie King now reigns over a different sort of animal kingdom as Queen Bee of Sevenoaks, a wealthy suburb of London. When her husband Adam spots a panther on the hood of his car at one of her exclusive dinner parties, Coralie is quick to reassure her guests that they're in no real danger. She sees the sighting as the perfect opportunity to revive her career and promote her own ecological endeavors. New neighbor Emma Brooks doesn't believe for a second that there's a big cat in their midst but is all too willing to use the concern as a distraction from her home remodel application that's been facing scrutiny. Meanwhile, former punk musician Twig Dorsett doesn't know what to believe. She never thought she'd return to Sevenoaks and be living in her childhood home, but after her daughter became sick, she and her wife traded their Bohemian life in Bali for the security of London suburbia. As the summer heats up, the frenzy around the big cat sighting reaches a fever pitch when gnawed bones, pawprints, and scratches are discovered. But is the real predator a big cat on the prowl or is the true threat more of the domestic variety? Filled with gasp-worthy twists and turns, Cat Fight is a wickedly entertaining novel of suspense that examines the lengths to which some women will go when they feel caged

Old School Indian
by Aaron John Curtis

Abe Jacobs is Kanien'kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne–that's People of the Flint, from Where the Partridge Drums–or, if you ask a white dude, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. Whichever way you cut it–and Dominick Deer Woods, our irreverent, wisecracking narrator, cuts it six ways to Sunday–at eighteen Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease–one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he's convinced to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But this ain't Sweet Home Ahkwesáhsne, as Dominick might say, and Budge–a wry recovered alcoholic prone to wearing band t-shirts featuring pot-bellied naked dudes–isn't the least bit precious about his gift. Which is good, because his time off Rez has made Abe a thorough skeptic. However, to heal Abe will have to undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he's hidden ever since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even at his darkest hour. Delivered with crackling wit and wildly inventive linguistic turns, Old School Indian is a striking exploration of the power and secrets of family, the capacity for healing and catharsis, and the ripple effects of history and culture.

Junie: A GMA Book Club Pick by Erin Crosby Eckstine

Junie
by Eris Crosby Eckstine

A strong-willed enslaved girl is haunted by her sister's ghost as she grapples with circumstances beyond her control, risking her life as the Civil War looms in this lush and tenderhearted debut. Junie has always yearned for more. Born and raised on the Bellereine plantation in the Alabama countryside, the sixteen-year-old spends her days working for the McQueens and serving as a maid for their daughter Violet, her oldest and closest friend. In the daytime, she entertains herself with poetry and imagines grand romances and faraway worlds. Under the cover of night, she steals away to the woods, curling up by the riverbank. But consumed by grief over the recent death of her older sister Minnie, she has vowed never to leave her family's side. Her world is capsized at the arrival of the Taylors, a wealthy brother and sister from New Orleans. The McQueens are keen to marry Violet off to Mr. Taylor, and if they succeed, Junie would be ripped away from everyone she knows and loves. Committing a desperate act, she awakens Minnie's tempestuous spirit, who can only move on once Junie completes three crucial tasks. She enlists the aid of Caleb, Mr. Taylor's chauffeur, and the two strike up a quick friendship that soon becomes something more. Yet time is ticking, and as secrets and betrayals rise to the surface, Junie must wade into unfamiliar territory as she pushes against the current that has controlled her entire life. Encapsulating the multitudes of a young girl caught between the steadiness of the familiar and the gamble of diving into the unknown, Erin Crosby Eckstine explores the strength of love and friendship under the crushing weight of servitude. In this radiant and stirring novel, Junie soars to life, brimming with longing that cannot be contained and hope that can never be extinguished.

The Devil Three Times
by Rickey Fayne

Yetunde awakens aboard a slave ship en route to the United States with the spirit of her dead sister as her only companion. Desperate to survive the hell that awaits her at their destination, Yetunde finds help in an unexpected form–the Devil himself. The Devil, seeking a way to reenter the pearly gates of heaven, decides to prove himself to an indifferent God by protecting Yetunde and granting her a piece of his supernatural power. In return, Yetunde makes an incredible sacrifice. Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde's mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 years, the Devil visits Yetunde's descendants in their darkest hour of need: Lucille, a conjure woman; Asa, who passes for white; Louis and Virgil, who risk becoming a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandra, who speaks to the dead; James, who struggles to make sense of the past while fighting to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvation, all the while wondering: can he save himself, too? Steeped in the spiritual traditions and oral history of the Black diaspora, The Devil Three Times is a baptism by fire and water, heralding a new voice in American fiction.

Life Hacks for a Little Alien
by Alice Franklin

Before she thinks of herself as Little Alien, our protagonist is a lonely girl who doesn't understand the world the way other children seem to. So when a late-night TV special introduces her to the mysterious Voynich Manuscript– an ancient tome written in an indecipherable language–Little Alien experiences something she hasn't before: hope. Could there be others like her, who also feel like they're from another planet? Convinced the Voynich Manuscript holds the answers she needs, Little Alien and her best (and only) friend Bobby decide they must find this strange book. Where that decision leads them will change everything.

Great Black Hope
by Robert Michael Franklin

A young Black man is caught between worlds of race and class, glamour and tragedy, a friend's mysterious death and his own arrest.

The Names: A Read with Jenna Pick by Florence Knapp

The Names
by Florence Knapp

A dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life? In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow his family tradition going back generations, and name the child Gordon. But on the journey there, Cora wonders if it's right to impose the burden of this name and its legacy onto her tiny newborn son. She herself has Julian in mind, and Maia offers up her own suggestion: Bear. What follows are three alternate and alternating versions of both Cora's life and her young son's life shaped by her brave, last-minute choice of name. Spanning thirty-five years, the novel draws us in from the first page, as we follow three unforgettable journeys of one young man, but also his mother, grandmother, and sister. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing. With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family told through a prism of what-ifs, and shows us what we each can do with the "one precious life" we are given.

Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi

Questions linger about Theo, a pleasant but mysterious stranger, after his arrival in the southern city of Golden. Who is he, and why is he here? He arrives early one spring and by chance–or is it?–he visits a coffee shop where 92 framed pencil portraits are on display. Inspired, Theo sets out on a mission of purchasing all the portraits one at a time and quietly bestowing them on their 'rightful owners.' Stories are told; friendships are born; and lives are changed. Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted story about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the far-reaching possibilities of anonymous kindness.

Portrait of a Thief
by Grace D Li

"Ocean's Eleven" meets "The Farewell" in this lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums, about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity. History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible–and illegal–job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago.

The Persians
by Sanam Mahloudji

Meet the Valiat family. In Iran, they were somebodies. In America, they're nobodies. First there is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch with the famously large nose who stayed in Tehran during the revolution. She lives in a shabby apartment, paranoid and alone. Except when she is visited by Niaz, her Islamic-law-breaking granddaughter who takes her debauchery with a side of purpose, and yet somehow manages to survive. Elizabeth's daughters left for America in 1979: Shirin, a charismatic yet outrageous event planner in Houston who considers herself the family's future, and Seema, a dreamy idealist-turned-housewife languishing in the chaparral-filled hills of Los Angeles. And then there's the other granddaughter Bita, the self-righteous but lost law student spending her days in New York City eating pancakes and quietly giving away her belongings. When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail by Bita, the family's brittle status quo is cracked open. Shirin embarks upon a grand but half-baked quest to restore the family name. But what does that even mean in a country where the Valiats never mattered? Will they ever realize that life is more than just an old story?

Alchemised
by SenLinYu

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

Single Player
by Tara Tai

Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. The former means there hasn't been much of the latter in her (real) life, but when she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow–the next big thing in games–she knows it's all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who's not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot.

History Lessons
by Zoe B Wallbrook

As a newly minted junior professor, Daphne Ouverture spends her days giving lectures on French colonialism, writing her first academic book, and going on atrocious dates. Her small world suits her just fine. Until Sam Taylor dies. The rising star of Harrison University's anthropology department was never one of Daphne's favorites, despite his popularity. But that doesn't prevent Sam's killer from believing Daphne has something that belonged to Sam–something the killer will stop at nothing to get. Between grading papers and navigating her disastrous love life, Daphne embarks on an investigation to find out what connects her to Sam's murder. With the help of an alluring former-detective-turned-bookseller, she unravels a deadly cover-up on campus.

Ask a librarian for more reading suggestions!