Debut power

Publishing a debut novel is never easy. 100,000 long-form works of English-language fiction are published every year and even in normal circumstances it’s a struggle to for a first-time novelist to stand out from the pack. But the last 15 or so months have been particularly trying. Full lockdown meant no one was browsing bookshops, picking up things that caught their eye, taking a chance on a name that they hadn’t heard before.