28 1998 debut novels

Abyssinian Chronicles is a 1998 novel by Ugandan author Moses Isegawa.

Amy and Isabelle, also stylized Amy & Isabelle, is the 1998 debut novel by American author Elizabeth Strout. It was first published in hardback on December 29, 1998 through Random House and is set in the fictional town of Shirley Falls, a location that Strout would revisit in her 2013 novel The Burgess Boys. Strout would also revisit the character of Isabelle in her 2019 short story cycle Olive, Again.

The Basic Eight is the debut novel by author Daniel Handler, published in 1998. The book is a version of the diary of high-schooler Flannery Culp. It contains a number of sarcastic plot devices that ridicule high school English classes, standardized testing, satanic panic and talk-show analysts. The book is a classic example of an unreliable narrator. Consistent with Handler's farcical treatment of high school English, he includes vocabulary words and study questions at the end of some of Culp's diary entries.

Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions is a 1998 novel by Daniel Wallace. It was adapted into a film, Big Fish, in 2003 by Tim Burton. A musical adaptation starring Norbert Leo Butz premiered in Chicago in April 2013.

Brown Girl in the Ring is a 1998 novel written by Jamaican-Canadian writer Nalo Hopkinson. The novel contains Afro-Caribbean culture with themes of folklore and magical realism. It was the winning entry in the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. Since the selection, Hopkinson's novel has received critical acclaim in the form of the 1999 Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the 1999 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Carl Haffner's Love of the Draw is a 1998 chess novel by Austrian writer Thomas Glavinic. It was Glavinic's first novel and is about a shy and withdrawn Viennese chess master who in 1910 challenges the World Champion for his title. The book was translated into English in 1999 by John Brownjohn for London-based publisher Harvill Press.

Caucasia (1998) is the first novel written by American author, Danzy Senna. It is the coming-of-age story of two multiracial girls, Birdie Lee and her sister Cole, who have a Caucasian mother and an African American father. The novel is set in Boston, Massachusetts, during the turbulent mid-1970s.

A Crack Up at the Race Riots is a novel written by Harmony Korine, writer of such cult films as Kids and Gummo. The book was published in 1998 by Doubleday. A new edition was later published by Drag City.

Deadly, Unna? is a 1998 work of teenage fiction and is Phillip Gwynne's debut novel. Set in a small coastal town in South Australia, it is a rites-of-passage story about the interracial friendship between Australian rules football teammates Gary "Blacky" Black, a white boy, and Nunga Dumby Red. The novel is written from Blacky's point of view and covers the period leading up to the local football grand final and the summer after.

Digital Fortress is a techno-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published in 1998 by St. Martin's Press. The book explores the theme of government surveillance of electronically stored information on the private lives of citizens, and the possible civil liberties and ethical implications of using such technology.

Green Rider is the first novel written by Kristen Britain and is the first book in its series. It was nominated for the Crawford Award in 1999.

Halfway Human (1998) is a science fiction novel written by Carolyn Ives Gilman. It was nominated for the 1998 Tiptree Award, and placed second on the Locus Readers Poll for Best First Novel in 1999.

A Hope in the Unseen is the first book by author and journalist Ron Suskind, published in 1998. The book is a biographical novel about the life of Cedric Jennings through his last years in high school and first years in college. It details his life in Ballou High School, an inner city school in Washington, D.C., and onto Brown University, which Cedric attends after high school. The book portrays the problems of inner-city education systems and how the students from these systems are affected throughout their lives. In 2008, the book was selected as part of the "One Maryland, One Book" program.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard is a novel by Kiran Desai published in 1998. It is her first book and won the top prize for the Betty Trask Awards in 1998. It is set in the Indian village of Shahkot and follows the exploits of a young man, Sampath Chawla, trying to avoid the responsibilities of adult life. Fed up with his life in Shahkot, Sampath goes to a guava orchard and settles himself in a guava tree, where he uses the gossip he learned while working at the post office to convince people he is clairvoyant and soon becomes a popular "holy man".

King Rat is an urban fantasy novel by British writer China Miéville, published in 1998. Unlike his Bas-Lag novels, it is set in London during the late 1990s. It follows the life of Saul Garamond after the death of his father and his meeting with King Rat. As King Rat takes Saul under his wing, the young man is quickly embroiled in a centuries-old rivalry. King Rat was Miéville's debut novel.

Kiss Me, Judas is a 1998 neo-noir novel by the American author Will Christopher Baer. The book was first published on October 1, 1998, through Viking Press and follows the character of Phineas Poe after he wakes up in a hotel bathtub full of ice to discover that somebody has removed one of his kidneys.

My Legendary Girlfriend (1998) is the first novel Birmingham born lad lit writer Mike Gayle. It follows the story of Will Kelly who is still in love with his first proper girlfriend.

My Year of Meats is a novel by Ruth Ozeki. The book takes advantage of the differences between Japanese and American culture to comment on both.

The Restraint of Beasts is a tragicomic debut novel, written by Magnus Mills. In it, an anonymous narrator "the foreman" works for a Scottish fencing company, run by Donald who is consumed by work and the desire for "efficiency". The narrator is promoted to foreman and put in charge of Tam and Richie who prefer a laissez-faire approach to work and so are at odds with both their management and their new foreman.

Saman is an Indonesian novel by Ayu Utami published in 1998. It is Utami's first novel, and depicts the lives of four sexually-liberated female friends, and a former Catholic priest, Saman, for whom the book is named. Written in seven to eight months while Utami was unemployed, Saman sold over 100,000 copies and ignited a new literary movement known as sastra wangi that opened the doors to an influx of sexually-themed literary works by young Indonesian women.

Shopping is the debut novel by British author Gavin Kramer published in 1998 by Fourth Estate, it won the David Higham Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and was short-listed for the Whitbread First Novel Award.

The Talk of the Town is the first novel written by Ardal O'Hanlon, published by Sceptre in 1998. It was renamed Knick Knack Paddy Whack for publication in United States.

O Terceiro Travesseiro is an erotic-adult gay-romance novel by author Nelson Luiz de Carvalho. It is the first book of the O Terceiro Travesseiro series, and introduces sixteen-year-old Marcus, who falls in love with Renato. The novel is followed by O Dia Seguinte.

This River Awakens is the first novel by Canadian author Steve Lundin, best known by his pseudonym Steven Erikson. The book was first published in 1998, with funding by the Manitoba Arts Council.

Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder (ISBN 0-7679-1381-7) is a 1998 novel by US television personality Bill O'Reilly. The story focuses on the revenge a television journalist exacts on network staff after disputes very similar to O'Reilly's real tensions with CBS. The revenge takes the form of a series of graphically described murders.

Tipping the Velvet (1998) is a historical novel by Sarah Waters; it is her debut novel. Set in England during the 1890s, it tells a coming of age story about a young woman named Nan who falls in love with a male impersonator, follows her to London, and finds various ways to support herself as she journeys through the city. The picaresque plot elements have prompted scholars and reviewers to compare it to similar British urban adventure stories written by Charles Dickens and Daniel Defoe.

Trumpet is the debut novel of Scottish writer and poet Jackie Kay, published in 1998. It chronicles the life and death of fictional jazz artist Joss Moody through the recollection of his family and friends and those who came in contact with him at his death. Kay stated in an interview that her novel was inspired by the life of Billy Tipton, an American jazz musician who lived with the secret of being transgender.

Ute av verden is the 1998 debut novel by Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård. Knausgård was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature for the book. This was the first time in the award's history that a first-time author had won.