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This is, by no means, a comprehensive list. It is limited to outstanding first novelists or established novelists who have been undeservedly neglected. (* paperback edition available).
by Helene Androski
University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Library October, 1996
Author: Abraham, Pearl
Title(s) in Print:
First novel. A close and balanced look at life in an Hasidic family as a daughter attempts to define herself outside the confines of her religious tradition.
Author: Allison, Dorothy
Title(s) in Print:
1996 American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Caucus nominee for fiction. Hard writing about sexual abuse and sexuality that gives vivid voice to Southern “white trash” characters.
Author: Alvarez, Julia
Title(s) in Print:
Evocative chronicling of the experience of Dominican Republicans as emigrants and residents of their home country.
Author: Astley, Thea
Title(s) in Print:
Australian. Witty and insightful looks at interpersonal relations.
Author: Atkinson, Kate
Title(s) in Print:
First novel won the 1995 Whitbread Prize for fiction in Great Britain. Brilliant characterizations and unusual construction add depth to a family saga.
Author: Baker, Alison
Title(s) in Print:
Well-crafted short stories that range from slapstick humor to true pathos.
Author: Barker, Pat
Title(s) in Print:
THE GHOST ROAD was the winner of the 1995 Booker Prize for fiction in Great Britain. One of the best writers at work today. Her WWI trilogy (GHOST ROAD, EYE, REGENERATION) explores mighty themes of war and morality with compelling stories and characters.
Author: Blackburn, Julia
Title(s) in Print:
British. THE BOOK OF COLOR shortlisted for new Orange Award for fiction by women in Britain. A moody, sensual story of the clash of cultures on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Author: Boyd, Blanche McCrary
Title(s) in Print:
Lesbian novels with a Southern setting vividly evoked.
Author: Danticat, Edwidge
Title(s) in Print:
Haitian. KRIK? KRAK!, one of LIBRARY JOURNAL’s Best Books for 1995 and a National Book Award Nominee, is a powerful set of interlocking stories about the lives of Haitian women.
Author: Donoghue, Emma
Title(s) in Print:
Poignant and unapologetic novels about Lesbians in modern Dublin.
Author: Dwyer, Kelly
Title(s) in Print:
First novelist who shows remarkable skill in evoking emotions and plotting in this story of a young woman’s coming to terms with the deaths of her parents.
Author: Gardam, Jane
Title(s) in Print:
QUEEN, winner of the 1991 Whitbread Prize for Fiction in Great Britain, is an epistolary novel that evolves into deliciously funny and touching flights of fancy as the writer grows more mad or sane, depending on your perspective.
Author: Gibbons, Kaye
Title(s) in Print:
A storyteller in the best tradition of Southern gothic writers. Insights into character add depth to the humor.
Author: Hegi, Ursula
Title(s) in Print:
German born. Stones is a richly textured chronicle of life in a German small town under the Nazis.
Author: Jackson, Sheneska
Title(s) in Print:
First novelist. Lively, funny, but no-holds-barred look at South Central Los Angeles. Vivid voice.
Author: Landvik, Lorna
Titles in Print:
First novel. Funny, heartwarming, if over simplified, story of the power of friendship between women. Set in Minneapolis in the 1940s-60s with a strong sense of place.
Author: McGrath, Kristina
Title(s) in Print:
First novel. Poetic paean to a hard-working woman who creates dignity and stability out of the shambles of her life. Evocative portrait of working class Pittsburgh in the 1940s.
Author: Mackay, Shena
Title(s) in Print:
British. Her novels and short stories feature black humor, empathy for the characters, and dazzling skill in description.
Author: McKinney-Whetstone, Diane
Title(s) in Print:
First novel follows the trials and triumphs of a family in South Philadelphia in the 1940s and 1950s. Good look at life in a Black community before desegregation.
Author: Mendelsohn, Jane
Title(s) in Print:
First novel. Speculates on what happened to Earhart after her disappearance, but less an adventure story than a meditation on the nature of fame and identity.
Author: Mori, Kyoko
Title(s) in Print:
Japanese-born. First novel for adults. A beautifully written view of modern Japanese culture, plus a depiction of coming to terms with a mother’s suicide.
Author: Morris, Mary McGarry
Title(s) in Print:
Tough novels told with empathy and a great sense of plotting about people living on the edge.
Author: Nelson, Antonya
Title(s) in Print:
Winner of Flannery O’Connor Award, Nelson Algren Award, and PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. Meticulous examinations of interpersonal relations and motivations.
Author: Power, Susan
Title(s) in Print:
Native American. THE GRASS DANCER was a 1995 American Library Association Notable Award winner. Lyrical looks at Dakota culture and the straddling necessary between that culture and mainstream America.
Author: Read, Miss
Title(s) in Print: Several titles in both Thrush Green and Fairacre series. British. Great escapism to English village life saved from excessive sentimentality by witty writing.
Author: Schulman, Audrey
Title(s) in Print:
First novel. Highly evocative adventure to the Arctic.
Author: Scofield, Sandra
Title(s) in Print:
Emotionally compelling novels about working class Texans, primarily women, trying to hold their lives together.
Author: Thirkell, Angela
Title(s) in Print:
Several paperback reprints.
British. For fans of Jane Austen and Barbara Pym. Quintessentially British comic novels written in the 1930s and 40s set in the countryside featuring the gentry.
Author: Tremain, Rose
Title(s) in Print:
British. Multi-talented writer equally at home with a 17th century historical novel, Restoration, or a 20th century novel featuring a transsexual living unhappily in rural Suffolk.
Author: Verdelle, A.J.
Title(s) in Print:
First novel a 1996 Honorable Mention for fiction from American Library Association Black Caucus. Remarkable first person account of a girl growing up in Virginia and Detroit in the 1950s.
Author: Viramontes, Helena Marie
Title(s) in Print:
Powerful writing about the Mexican-American migrant experience.
Author: Weber, Katharine
Title(s) in Print:
First novel. Poignant story set in Geneva and New York City about childhood trauma leavened by touches of humor.
Author: West, Dorothy
Title(s) in Print:
Now in her 80s, this veteran of the Harlem Renaissance is writing again. The Wedding provides a rare glimpse into the lives of upper class Negroes in the 1950s.