The Waterstones debut fiction prize 2023 shortlist: 6 books to add to your summer reading list

Waterstones debut fiction

Credit: Publishers own

Books


The Waterstones debut fiction prize 2023 shortlist: 6 books to add to your summer reading list

By Anna Bartter

Updated 2 years ago

2 min read

Wondering what to read this summer? Take a look at these six debut novels shortlisted by Waterstones for its 2023 debut fiction prize.


The Waterstones debut fiction prize shortlist 2023 has been announced today. The £5,000 award for “exceptional” first works of fiction is now in its second year and represents the “best of the future of fiction”, as voted for by Waterstones booksellers. Open to all new UK-published authors, this year’s nominees include Alice Winn’s emotive first world war love story In Memoriam and PEN/Jean Stein book award-winner Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s “highly original” near-future dystopia Chain-Gang All-Stars. 

If you’re after a stonking summer read, here’s the shortlist in full. Enjoy! 

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks

Also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023, this stunning debut novel is described by Waterstones as “an expansive story about love, freedom, raving and the impact of police violence on Black communities, told with immense musicality and emotional honesty”.

Shop Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks (Vintage) at Waterstones, £14.99 

Buy now

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Described by the New York Times as a “glorious, addictive debut”, this emotive tale follows the love story of two upper-class boys through the trenches of the first world war. 

The heartbreaking story is “an epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip… a breathtaking debut”.

Shop In Memoriam by Alice Winn (Penguin) at Waterstones, £14.99 

Buy now

Close to Home by Michael Magee

Close To Home by Michael Magee

Michael Magee’s debut novel is “a striking tale of poverty, love and trauma told through the lens of two working-class brothers in post-conflict Belfast”, and according to reviews, you’re in for a real treat. An evocative examination of class, masculinity and belonging, it’s not for the faint-hearted. 

Shop Close to Home by Michael Magee (Penguin) at Waterstones, £12.99 

Buy now

Chain-Gang All-Stars

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

If you’re a fan of Squid Game or The Handmaid’s Tale, you’ll love this debut novel from the author of Friday Black, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. A “blistering dystopian vision of prison brutality played for capitalist entertainment” sees inmates fight for their freedom – live-streamed to millions – from the US private jail system. Controversial but compelling. 

Shop Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Vintage) at Waterstones, £18.99 

Buy now

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

A piercingly timely, heartbreaking story of a Vietnamese refugee family separated on their boat journey to Hong Kong, and the siblings’ subsequent struggles in Thatcherite London. A novel imbued with love, loss and the healing power of stories, it’s impossible not to be touched by this tale. 

Shop Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (Harper Collins) at Waterstones, £14.99 

Buy now

Kala by Colin Walsh

Kala by Colin Walsh

This “gripping literary page-turner from a rising Irish talent” follows three friends as they recall the summer they spent together 15 years ago. Impressive characterisation and mysterious disappearances combine to create a rich, suspenseful novel you won’t be able to put down. 

Shop Kala by Colin Walsh (Atlantic Books) at Waterstones, £16.99 

Buy now

Images: courtesy of publishers 


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