Debut Fiction: Writing Love, Loss, and Starting Over with Humor and Pathos

In these striking and imaginative debut novels, the authors explore grief, family, memory, and the search for connection — with humor, heartbreak, and resilience. From a family in pogrom-era Russia turning to ancient magic to reclaim a lost daughter to a woman navigating love, ambition, and isolation during the COVID lockdown, these novels examine how the past continues to haunt and shape us — and how people find new ways to move forward.