11 of the best debut novels that were nominated for the Booker Prize

Getting onto a Booker Prize longlist is impressive in itself, but to be nominated for your first novel is something else entirely. 

2020 was an especially great year for debuts, with eight of the 13 books on the Booker Prize longlist written by first-time novelists – the most in the prize’s history. Scottish author Douglas Stuart won that year with his heartbreaking debut, Shuggie Bain. Reflecting on his win recently, Stuart said, ‘To win the Booker made me feel like I hadn’t been entirely delusional, and that I had been right to walk away from the security of my fashion career and trust my dreams.’

The process of writing a first novel can be an overwhelming experience, with endless drafts and constant doubt often hindering the process. Not to mention the constant rejection letters from agents and publishers that most debut authors must face. Shuggie Bain, famously, was turned down by 40 publishers before it found its way into print. But the writers on this list have defied the odds and handled the pressure, all thrillingly nominated for the Booker Prize with their debuts.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Set in the Netherlands just after the Second World War, The Safekeep is a tale of hidden desire and obsession. Repressed and isolated inside her late mother’s house, Isabel finds her world shaken up when her older brother, Louis, introduces his vivacious new girlfriend, Eva. As Eva stays with Isabel for the summer, the two women find themselves in a complicated standoff as Isabel’s strict rules start to falter. 

Van der Wouden’s debut novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024 and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2025. The Booker judges said that they ‘loved this debut novel for its remarkable inhabitation of obsession. It navigates an emotional landscape of loss and return in an unforgettable way’.

It took van der Wouden six months to complete the first draft of The Safekeep while working as a creative writing teacher in the Netherlands. In an interview with 26, van der Wouden said: ‘This is what I always say to my students. You must remember, before this novel came, there were many others that were not written in six months and never saw the light of day…Years and years of attempting. I’d never sent anything out because I was never satisfied with anything I’d written so far.’

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Winner of the Booker Prize 2017, George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo explores the intersection between life and death. Taking place in a graveyard over the course of a single evening, the book details the death of Abraham Lincoln’s young son Willie and its aftermath. A tale of grief and sorrow, Saunders’ debut was inspired by the true story of how Lincoln visited Willie’s crypt several times to hold his body.

Lincoln in the Bardo is Saunders’ first full-length novel after having previously written a number of short-story collections, essays and novellas. In an interview with the Guardian, he explained that he carried the idea around for 20 years before he decided to take a run at it, ‘not wanting to be the guy whose own gravestone would read “Afraid to Embark on Scary Artistic Project He Desperately Longed to Attempt”’.

John Freeman from the Boston Globe said that ‘Fans of Saunders’s stories – some of the most original work in American history – have craved this book for a long time, and he has not disappointed. Saunders has disassembled the novel as a form and put it back together in a fascinating shape.’

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, Avni Doshi’s debut focuses on a complex mother-daughter relationship and explores the subjective nature of truth and identity. 

Antara is an artist who has become a carer for her mother, Tara, whose memory is starting to decline. In her youth, Tara was rebellious and wild, leaving her husband to join an ashram, taking her young daughter with her. Obsessively devoted to the spiritual leader, she leaves Antara with an older American woman, neglecting her motherly duties. Antara, now in the position of having to care for her mother, finds herself conflicted and haunted by her past.

In an interview for the Booker Prizes website, Doshi said that she wrote Burnt Sugar over many years and many drafts. Before becoming a writer, she worked as an art curator and wasn’t formally trained in creative writing.

In Booklist, Heather Booth said that ‘Doshi is a talent to watch, and this debut will readily find an audience in readers seeking well-crafted examinations of messy relationships, both internal and external.’

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

DBC Pierre – a self-proclaimed conman – won the Booker Prize in 2003 with his debut novel, Vernon God Little. The book follows Vernon Gregory Little, a 15-year-old who lives in a small Texan town. After being wrongly accused of a school shooting, he goes on the run, travelling to Mexico to avoid arrest. Written in unfiltered teenage vernacular, the Booker Prize 2003 judges said the darkly comic novel was ‘reflecting our alarm but also our fascination with America’.

DBC Pierre is the pseudonym for Peter Warren Finlay, with DBC standing for ‘Dirty But Clean’, in reference to his tumultuous past. According to an interview with The White Review, it only took Pierre about five weeks to write Vernon God Little. After a wayward adolescence and young adulthood in which drugs played a major part, Pierre initially started writing as he was ‘pissed off with a lack of reason in the world.’

Sam Sifton, writing for the New York Times, said, ‘The writing is simply terrific. In much the same way that noir novelists like James Ellroy seem steeped in the rhythms and textures of jazz, there is a jagged, punk-rock sensibility to Pierre’s prose, absolutely his own. Plot aside – and there is much in this novel to keep the reader turning pages – Vernon God Little is just plain fun to read.’

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Winner of the Booker Prize in 2008, The White Tiger tells the story of Balram Halwai, a man from a rural village in India, as he transitions from a life of servitude to becoming an amoral entrepreneur. Over the course of seven nights, Balram narrates his life story, explaining how he became a successful businessman.

According to William Green, writing in TIME, Adiga was ‘often plagued by self-doubt… but he wrote The White Tiger in a state of calm and happiness, knowing even then that he was creating “something special.”’ Struggling to write the book in the third person, Adiga switched tactics and changed to a first-person narration, rewriting the book in just 40 days. 

The chair of the Booker Prize 2008 judges, Michael Portillo, said that The White Tiger was ‘as disturbing as it is entertaining… This book changed me… It changed my view of certain things, like what is the real India and what is the nature of poverty.’