The BEST debut novels of the month: Isaac by Curtis Garner, The White Flower by Charlotte Beeston, City of Laughter by Temim Fruchter

Isaac by Curtis Garner (Verve £10.99, 288pp) This contemporary coming-of-age story stars 17-year-old Isaac, who lives in London with his mum and stepdad and is busy with exams before university.

Isaac is also busy navigating his first foray into the world of online dating.

Worried about academic failure by day and exploring his sexuality with a great variety of men by night, nothing in Isaac's life feels definite or meaningful.

Eventually, Isaac meets 28-year-old Harrison at a sex party and everything changes again. Isaac adores Harrison and thinks about him constantly but has no idea if any of it is reciprocated.

Fretting that Harrison will lose interest makes Isaac fixate on the many things he doesn't like about himself. It's fast-paced, raw and emotionally intelligent; brilliant on the vulnerability inherent in so many first relationships.

The White Flower by Charlotte Beeston (Les Fugitives £12.99, 194pp) This beautifully written narrative alternates between Stella's contemporary story set in London and Julia's Edwardian one, set in East Devon and London.

Separated by time and distance, our two protagonists are both dealing with debilitating grief. Stella is in therapy, discussing the death of her mother. Julia is mourning her eldest daughter, Helena, and is finding the loss unbearable.

Stella's mother died of cancer and she has pretty much no relationship with her father. Helena was a photographer who died soon after returning home from an expedition in the rainforests of Sri Lanka.

This is a thought-provoking portrait of grief and the mother-daughter bond stayed with me long after I finished it.

City of Laughter by Temim Fruchter (Dialogue Books £22, 384pp) When Shiva's father dies she stays over at her parents' house, helping her newly widowed mother sort through his things.

Thirty-one-year-old Shiva and her mother Hannah are not close. Shiva is angry that her father is dead, angry with herself for feeling so stuck for so long and angry at her mother, who refuses to talk about her past or their relations.

Shiva is also aware that her girlfriend has been growing distant for a while and is now avoiding her.

After a row with Hannah, Shiva hightails it back to New York, enrolling in a Jewish studies course at university, with a special interest in Jewish folklore.

Shiva reasons that if Hannah refuses to share stories of their ancestors then she will find out and fill the gaps herself.

She also wins a grant that takes her to Warsaw, Poland, where her family originated from. Wonderful.