The best new novelists for 2025

The Observer New Review has released its annual selection of the year's finest debut novels, with a proven track record of picking authors who go on to win awards and become reader favorites. For the 12th year running, writers and editors spent weeks reading dozens of forthcoming debut novels to find the titles that deserve to be widely read. The list includes authors from the UK and Ireland, with a range of styles and subjects, from ecological epics to tales of love and relationships. The class of 2025 includes authors who were snapped up by publishers before they left university, as well as those who started writing later in life. Some authors on the list are already well known for their short story collections, while others are new to the literary scene. The strong showing from writers in Ireland and Northern Ireland is attributed to the subsidized literary magazines and development agencies that helped them grow. Arts funding is seen as transformative in supporting new writers. The theme of care, particularly parent-child relationships, is a common thread among this year's books, but the styles and subjects differ widely. The list includes a range of genres, from page-turners to comic romps, and the editors are confident that readers will love every one of these outstanding novels. The selection process had only one rule: the writers must live in the UK or Ireland, and the editors were only interested in the quality of the novels themselves.