‘I Hope This Finds You Well’: Our pick for best debut novel of 2024

Every year, hundreds of authors make their debut in the book world with their first novel. Even though 2024 has had some incredible work from first-time authors, our pick for the best debut of 2024 is Natalie Sue’s hilarious and heart-warming novel, I Hope This Finds You Well.

With whip-smart humor, endearing characters, and an important message about healing, I Hope This Finds You Well is not one to miss!

ALSO READ: Third novel in Freida McFadden’s ‘The Housemaid’ series falls short

SUE’S WRITING IS WICKEDLY SHARP AND UTTERLY GRIPPING

Sue has managed to find that sweet spot in fiction writing with a story that boasts genuinely funny writing and very real and complex characters. Often in intentionally funny books, the characters lose depth and the story is superficial. In I Hope This Finds You Well, the writing is funny and easy to read, but the story stays poignant and deals with heavy topics like anxiety and grief.

I am excited to see where Sue’s career goes from here and I will keep an eye out for her name on bookshelves. If you like books like Ghosts by Dolly Alderton, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman or Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, you will love I Hope This Finds You Well.

SYNOPSIS: “I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL”

As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries.

Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text colour to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly new HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.

When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favour, convince HR she’s Supershops material and beat out the competition.

But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworker’s private worlds and secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble. Soon she will need to decide if she’s ready to leave the comfort of her cubicle, even if it means coming clean to her colleagues.

Crackling with laugh-out-loud dialogue and relatable observations, I Hope This Finds You Well is a fresh and surprisingly tender comedy about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens. This sparkling debut novel will open your heart to the everyday eccentricities of work culture and the undeniable human connection that comes with it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

According to her website, Natalie Sue is a Canadian author of Iranian and British descent. She spent her formative years moving around western Canada with a brief stint in Scotland, where she discovered her passion for storytelling as a means of connection and reading as a means of comfort.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys bingeing great and terrible TV, attempting pottery, and procuring houseplants. She lives in Calgary with her husband, daughter, and dog.

I Hope This Finds You Well is published by The Borough Press and is available from Exclusive Books stores for R400.