The 2009 debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford, is a sensitive look back at Seattle during WWII, the trauma of being considered different, and the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent. The sweet coming-of-age story of Henry and Keiko is told with great historic detail.
 

Something Missing by Matthew Dicks, is also a 2009 debut novel that is quirky, charming, humorous and suspenseful. In it an obsessive-compulsive Barista burgles the houses of people he calls his "clients," and begins trying to improve their lives.
 

The Little Stranger by veteran author Sarah Waters, is almost more of a suspenseful English country house/family story than a ghost story. Yet its creepy moments are so realistic they will continue to haunt the reader long after finishing the story. In fact, I was left with the nagging feeling that the story was not really over, that somehow the shattered lives of the characters would be re-visited.

In the beautifully-written 2010 debut, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, the characters of the Major and his late-in-life lady love appear full-blown, as if they could be our neighbors. The poignant cross-cultural family and community complications add heft to the emotional core of the Major's story.