Waterstones 11 - Our pick of the best debut novels of 2012
We know good writing.
There is a singular excitement in the discovery of a new writer of rare talent. At Waterstones, certainly, it is something in which we take both great pride and pleasure.
Last year, the inaugural Waterstones 11 proved to be an inspiring selection. The literary debuts it championed went on to enjoy critical acclaim: The Tiger's Wife won the Orange Prize; Pigeon English was on the Man Booker shortlist; both it and The Collaborator were on the Guardian First Book Award shortlist; When God was a Rabbit was noticed by both Richard and Judy and the Duchess of Cambridge; all achieved great commercial success.
This year's 11 are once again a marvellous selection. It is hard to believe these are debut novels, so assured and alive is the writing. I have no doubt that you will love reading them, and reading about them.
- James Daunt, Managing Director
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Waterstones 11 - Chad Harbach
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
Chad Harbach grew up in Wisconsin, and graduated from Harvard in 1997. He was a Henry Hoyns Fellow at the University of Virginia, where he received an MFA in Fiction in 2004. He is currently the Executive Editor of n+1, which he co-founded, and lives in Brooklyn.
Waterstones 11 - Frances Greenslade
Shelter by Frances Greenslade
Frances Greenslade was born in southern Ontario, near Niagara Falls in 1961. She read English at the University of Winnipeg and took a Masters in Creative Writing at University of British Columbia. There, inspired by her surroundings, she read books about survival, about building homes in the wilderness and guides to edible plants and began to imagine a novel about a woman who disappears into the mysterious landscape and leaves her two daughters to wonder and worry.
Waterstones 11 - Will Wiles
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles
Will Wiles was born in Orissa, India, in 1978. He is deputy editor of Icon, a monthly architecture and design magazine. Care of Wooden Floors, a black comedy about death, destruction and interior decoration, is his first novel. He is writing a second, which is set in a chain hotel. Will is married and lives in east London.
Waterstones 11 - Eowyn Ivey
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Eowyn (pronounced A-o-win) Ivey was raised in Alaska and continues to live there with her husband and two daughters. She works at the independent bookstore Fireside Books, where she happened across a copy of the fairy tale with illustrations by Alaskan artist Barbara Lavallee. The story haunted Eowyn with its loneliness and magic in a landscape so similar to the one she grew up in. She spent the next few months researching the book before she began writing.
Waterstones 11 - Patrick Flanery
Absolution by Patrick Flanery
Patrick Flanery was born in California in 1975 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. After earning a BFA in Film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts he worked for three years in the film industry before moving to the UK, where he completed a doctorate in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Oxford. He lives in London.
Waterstones 11 - Grace McCleen
The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen
Grace McCleen was born in Wales and grew up in a fundamentalist religion where she did not have much contact with non-believers. Her family moved to Ireland when she was ten, where she was schooled at home. When Grace and her family moved back to Britain she went back to school and her English teacher suggested she apply to Oxford. She calls it 'the biggest and best decision of my life', and it opened up a whole new world to her.
Waterstones 11 - Rachel Joyce
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The author, Rachel Joyce, has written over twenty original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and has created major adaptations for the Classic series and Woman's Hour. Joyce moved to writing after a twenty-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC. She currently lives in Gloucestershire with her family and is at work on her second novel.
Waterstones 11 - Charlotte Rogan
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
Charlotte Rogan graduated from Princeton in 1975. She taught herself to write between working at various jobs and bringing up triplets. Her childhood vacations with a family of sailors provided inspiration for The Lifeboat, her first novel. She lives in Connecticut, US.
Waterstones 11 - Anna Raverat
Signs of Life by Anna Raverat
Anna Raverat is a descendant of Gwendolen Raverat, a celebrated English artist and member of the Bloomsbury Group. Anna lives in London with her three children. This is her first novel.
Waterstones 11 - Karen Thompson Walker
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Karen Thompson Walker lives in Brooklyn and works in publishing. She spent three years rising early to work on her novel for an hour each morning before heading into the office for the business of acquiring and publishing other people's books. So she'll be the first to recognise how unusual the excitement around The Age of Miracles is, attracting the biggest deals since another US debut, Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers, was bought by Pan Macmillan.
Waterstones 11 - Jenni Fagan
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan
Jenni Fagan was born in Livingston, Scotland, and lives in London. She graduated from Greenwich University with the highest possible mark for a student of Creative Writing, and won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway MFA. A published poet, she has won awards from Arts Council England, Dewar Arts, and Scottish Screen among others. Jenni works as a writer in residence, in hospitals and prisons.
