Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

January 27 2015
Share Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

They say writers hit their prime in their forties. Certainly, many of history’s greatest writers wrote their greatest works at various stages of life—some, like Toni Morrison, didn’t start writing until middle age. However, when a young writer debuts a great work of fiction, it always becomes an event. Here is a list of great debut novels written by writers before they were thirty years old.

This Side of Paradise
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920) was an immediate, spectacular success and established his literary reputation. Perhaps the definitive novel of that “Lost Generation,” it tells the story of Amory Blaine, a handsome, wealthy Princeton student who halfheartedly involves himself in literary cults, “liberal” student activities, and a series of empty flirtations with young women. When he finally does fall truly in love, however, the young woman rejects him for another.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo iBooks logo
This Side of Paradise
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920) was an immediate, spectacular success and established his literary reputation. Perhaps the definitive novel of that “Lost Generation,” it tells the story of Amory Blaine, a handsome, wealthy Princeton student who halfheartedly involves himself in literary cults, “liberal” student activities, and a series of empty flirtations with young women. When he finally does fall truly in love, however, the young woman rejects him for another.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo iBooks logo

MENTIONED IN:

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 27, 2015

Close
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith

At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. Zadie Smith’s dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith’s voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo
White Teeth
Zadie Smith

At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. Zadie Smith’s dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith’s voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo
Close
The Tiger's Wife
by Téa Obreht

In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo
The Tiger's Wife
Téa Obreht

In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo

MENTIONED IN:

Leave the Kids with Grandma: 7 Insightful Stories Featuring Grandparents We Love

By Holly Claytor | September 11, 2020

Happy Chinese New Year: 12 Books to Kick Off the Year of the Pig

By Elizabeth Breeden | February 5, 2019

12 Authors I Desperately Need New Books From

By Taylor Noel | April 16, 2018

18 Striking First Lines to Start 2018

By Kerry Fiallo | January 1, 2018

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 27, 2015

Close
Breath, Eyes, Memory
by Edwidge Danticat

At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know, and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti—to the women who first reared her. At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become one of our most celebrated new novelists, a writer who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti—and the enduring strength of Haiti’s women—with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people’s suffering and courage.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo iBooks logo
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Edwidge Danticat

At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know, and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti—to the women who first reared her. At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become one of our most celebrated new novelists, a writer who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti—and the enduring strength of Haiti’s women—with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people’s suffering and courage.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo iBooks logo

MENTIONED IN:

13 Fantastic Books Sure to Get Your Book Club Talking

By Erica Nelson | June 16, 2016

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 27, 2015

Close
Path to the Spiders' Nests
by Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino was only twenty-three when he first published this bold and imaginative novel. It tells the story of Pin, a cobbler’s apprentice in a town on the Ligurian coast during World War II. He lives with his sister, a prostitute, and spends as much time as he can at a seedy bar where he amuses the adult patrons. After a mishap with a Nazi soldier, Pin becomes involved with a band of partisans. Calvino’s portrayal of these characters, seen through the eyes of a child, is not only a revealing commentary on the Italian resistance but an insightful coming-of-age story.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo iBooks logo
Path to the Spiders' Nests
Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino was only twenty-three when he first published this bold and imaginative novel. It tells the story of Pin, a cobbler’s apprentice in a town on the Ligurian coast during World War II. He lives with his sister, a prostitute, and spends as much time as he can at a seedy bar where he amuses the adult patrons. After a mishap with a Nazi soldier, Pin becomes involved with a band of partisans. Calvino’s portrayal of these characters, seen through the eyes of a child, is not only a revealing commentary on the Italian resistance but an insightful coming-of-age story.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo iBooks logo

MENTIONED IN:

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 27, 2015

Close
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
by Anthony Marra

In a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as Russian soldiers abduct her father in the middle of the night and then set fire to her home. When their lifelong neighbor Akhmed finds Havaa hiding in the forest with a strange blue suitcase, he makes a decision that will forever change their lives. A story of the transcendent power of love in wartime, A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA is a work of sweeping breadth, profound compassion, and lasting significance.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Anthony Marra

In a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as Russian soldiers abduct her father in the middle of the night and then set fire to her home. When their lifelong neighbor Akhmed finds Havaa hiding in the forest with a strange blue suitcase, he makes a decision that will forever change their lives. A story of the transcendent power of love in wartime, A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA is a work of sweeping breadth, profound compassion, and lasting significance.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo

MENTIONED IN:

Readers’ Choice: The Top 25 Most Shelved Books of All Time

By Off the Shelf Staff | March 29, 2019

Readers’ Choice: The Top 10 Most Shelved Books in July

By Off the Shelf Staff | July 27, 2018

10 Recommendations from the Co-Owner of Literati Bookstore

By Hilary Gustafson | July 12, 2018

Readers’ Choice: The Top 25 Shelved Books of 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 29, 2017

Readers’ Choice: The 13 Best Books on Off the Shelf in 2017 (So Far)

By Off the Shelf Staff | March 31, 2017

The New “O” Book Club: 12 Fiction Picks from President Obama

By Julianna Haubner | January 17, 2017

Close
Setting Free the Bears
by John Irving

It is 1967 and two Viennese university students want to liberate the Vienna Zoo, as was done after World War II. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences, in this first novel written by a twenty-five-year-old John Irving, already a master storyteller.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo iBooks logo
Setting Free the Bears
John Irving

It is 1967 and two Viennese university students want to liberate the Vienna Zoo, as was done after World War II. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences, in this first novel written by a twenty-five-year-old John Irving, already a master storyteller.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo iBooks logo

MENTIONED IN:

An Independent Bookseller’s Ode to John Irving

By Gillian Kohli | December 5, 2017

Out of the Mouths of Babes: Debut Novelists Under 30

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 27, 2015

Close

You must be logged in to add books to your shelf.

Please log in or sign up now.