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The rising stars of 2026: discover the must-read debut novels of the year

Alex Kadis

Riotously funny, nostalgic and immensely touching. If this isn’t a hit I will eat my hat.

Big Nobody is one of my favourite novels so far this year. ... I love to see a woman in her sixties with a first novel, let alone one this good.

It's hard not to root for a heroine who is so touching, a mixture of resilience and hurt, bouncy self-esteem and its crushing opposite. ... A debut that sparkles like Marc Bolan's eye makeup.

This original, compelling coming-of-age story is alternately heart-breaking and hilarious - I rooted for Connie from the start.

A dark coming-of-age story steeped in teenage frustration and era-defining music.

With BIG NOBODY a big new voice has arrived in fiction. Chock with wit, whimsy and the poignancy of unprocessed pain, this book broke my heart one minute and had me really laughing the next. In Connie, with her resilience and fierce determination to live on her own terms, Alex Kadis has given us a protagonist who will stay with you for a very long time.

This audacious debut novel reminds readers that humour might be the best way to talk about heartbreak. Big Nobody offers us both: it's a hilarious tale of awkward (is there any other kind?) adolescence that is also a moving story of family dysfunction. Don’t worry: there’s trauma, but there’s triumph, too.

Rumaan Alam, author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

BIG NOBODY is hands down the funniest, most original novel I’ve read in ages; it’s also a surprisingly moving story about what it means to strike out on your own in a hostile, bewildering world, told by one of the most memorable new narrators in contemporary fiction. Keep Alex Kadis on your radar - she’s a force to be reckoned with. I am totally, utterly, out-of-my-mind obsessed with this book.

Grant Ginder, author of THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING

Delightfully original . . . both creatively daring and perfectly evocative of the melodramatic emotional shitshow that is adolescence. My Big Fat Greek Coming-of-Age Novel, narrated by one of the great teenage curmudgeons of recent literature

A FIZZINGLY ORIGINAL COMING-OF-AGE STORY FOR FANS OF HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY 
 
'Riotously funny, nostalgic and immensely touching.' 
PANDORA SYKES 
 
'Your new favourite novel.' 
INDIA KNIGHT 
 
'A debut that sparkles like Marc Bolan's eye makeup.' 
GUARDIAN 
 
For Constance ‘Connie’ Costa, life is just beginning. She dreams of leaving behind her dull, dreary life in ‘70s East London, shaking off her deeply embarrassing Greek-Cypriot community of interfering Aunties and pretend ‘cousins’, and running away with her best mate Vas (fellow misfit; NHS specs; soul of a poet). She is determined to take her rightful place alongside her hero, David Bowie, onstage at Wembley Stadium. 
 
Only one thing stands in her way: her father, The Fat Murderer. No longer content with being an absolute imbecile and general abomination of nature, he has dialled up his campaign to ruin Connie’s life ever since the untimely death of her mother. 
 
If she ever wants to claim the destiny that is rightfully hers, Connie has only one option left: to kill him. 
 
Fizzingly original, disarmingly tender and laugh-out-loud funny, BIG NOBODY is a coming-of-age story about first love, first grief, and the long, painful journey to feeling like a somebody. 
 
'Broke my heart one minute and had me really laughing the next.' 
XOCHITL GONZALEZ, author of OLGA DIES DREAMING 
 
'Hands down the funniest, most original novel I’ve read in ages.' 
GRANT GINDER, author of THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING 
 
'Audacious and hilarious.' 
RUMAAN ALAM, author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND 
 
READERS LOVE CONNIE COSTA . . . 
'Poignant, authentic and darkly funny' ***** 
'Fabulous - I was rooting for Connie the whole way' ***** 
'Smart, funny, quirky' *****

Alex Kadis

Praise for Big Nobody

Riotously funny, nostalgic and immensely touching. If this isn’t a hit I will eat my hat.

Big Nobody is one of my favourite novels so far this year. ... I love to see a woman in her sixties with a first novel, let alone one this good.

It's hard not to root for a heroine who is so touching, a mixture of resilience and hurt, bouncy self-esteem and its crushing opposite. ... A debut that sparkles like Marc Bolan's eye makeup.

Riotously funny, nostalgic and immensely touching. If this isn’t a hit I will eat my hat.

Big Nobody is one of my favourite novels so far this year. ... I love to see a woman in her sixties with a first novel, let alone one this good.

It's hard not to root for a heroine who is so touching, a mixture of resilience and hurt, bouncy self-esteem and its crushing opposite. ... A debut that sparkles like Marc Bolan's eye makeup.

Riotously funny, nostalgic and immensely touching. If this isn’t a hit I will eat my hat.

Big Nobody is one of my favourite novels so far this year. ... I love to see a woman in her sixties with a first novel, let alone one this good.

It's hard not to root for a heroine who is so touching, a mixture of resilience and hurt, bouncy self-esteem and its crushing opposite. ... A debut that sparkles like Marc Bolan's eye makeup.

Articles featuring Alex Kadis

The rising stars of 2026: discover the must-read debut novels of the year

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