Which debut novels should you be reading in 2026?
Ask Penguin
Penguin Books UK
4.1 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What are the best books get you out of a reading slump? How did Snakes on a Plane inspire a literary sensation? What did James Joyce and Pakistani rap teach one of our debut novelists? And does a writer need to be completely delusional to finish writing a novel?
This week on Ask Penguin we sit down with three breakout debut authors, Angela Tomaski, Sufiyaan Salam, and Madeline Cash, to discuss the messy, hilarious reality of writing a first novel. And as always, we answer all your bookish questions and provide some much-needed reading recommendations.
Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here
About the books
Wimmy Road Boyz is a blistering story of masculinity, violence and love set over the course of a single, surreal night, told in energetic and cinematic prose.
The Infamous Gilberts is a novel buoyed by love, buffeted by loss, and tangled together in an unputdownable story where the lines between eccentricity and madness, cruelty and love become hilariously heartbreakingly blurred.
Lost Lambs is a novel of quick-witted observation and surprising tenderness, conspiracies, loss and humour, a family saga for the twenty-first century, all held together with crazy glue.
About the authors
Sufiyaan Salam is a writer and former animator from Blackburn. He’s working on several TV & feature projects, and co-wrote the short film MAGID / ZAFAR, premiering in 2025. Wimmy Road Boyz, winner of the #Merky Books New Writers’ prize, is his first novel.
Angela Tomaski was born in Oxford and raised in Somerset with her four brothers and sisters. She has had a variety of different jobs, including as a waitress, cleaner, English teacher and activity coordinator in a care home. She has a daughter and two grandsons, and now lives in rural Dorset.
Madeline Cash is the founder of Forever Magazine and the author of the story collection Earth Angel. Her fiction has appeared in Granta, The Baffler, The Sewanee Review, The Drift, and Bomb, among other publications. Lost Lambs is her debut novel.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Ask Penguin, the podcast about books and the people who write and publish them. |
| 0:08.1 | I'm Rihanna Dillon and this week I'm sitting down with three debut authors of 26 |
| 0:13.0 | to talk about their journey to publication and their amazing new novels. |
| 0:18.1 | Angela Tamski's The Infamous Gilbert is a dancingly captivating, mischievous and |
| 0:23.5 | heartbreaking debut about a dysfunctional family in a crumbling Gothic mansion spanning the 20th century. |
| 0:30.7 | Before Thorn Walk, the long-term home of the Gilbert's, is handed over to a luxury hotel chain, |
| 0:36.3 | Maximus, loyal guardian of the family's legacy, |
| 0:39.6 | invites us on a final tour where every room holds a secret. |
| 0:44.7 | Whimmy Road Boys by Sufyan Salam is the unmissable debut from the 2023-24, |
| 0:50.5 | murky book's new writer's prize winner, a blistering story of masculinity, violence and of course |
| 0:56.3 | love. It follows Imi, Khan and Harris, three young British Muslim men as they battle heartbreak, |
| 1:02.3 | grief and identity over the course of one surreal night spent on Manchester's Curry Mile. |
| 1:08.3 | And finally, Madeline Cash's Lost Lambs is a brilliantly observed modern comedy |
| 1:13.1 | about the spectacular implosion of the Flynn family. Since their parents opened up their |
| 1:18.4 | marriage, life has been disastrous for sisters Abigail, Louise and Harper. And casting a shadow |
| 1:24.1 | over at all is Paul Alabaster, a nefarious local billionaire who sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy. |
| 1:33.1 | Angela, Sufian and Madeleine, huge congratulations on your books. |
| 1:36.5 | And welcome to Ask Penguin. |
| 1:38.0 | Thank you so much for coming on. |
| 1:39.5 | Thank you for having us. |
| 1:40.5 | It's lovely to have you. |
| 1:41.8 | So we've already heard a little bit about your books, but tell us about you. |
... |
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