Will Rycroft

This is the day when we discover which authors have been shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.

And this is often the day when they find out who is on the shortlist with them.

So it's extra exciting.

And because of the width and breadth of our shortlist this year, we are across several time zones.

So in fact, this interview will be coming in two parts.

So we'll meet three authors and then we'll switch time zones and we'll meet another three authors.

Rather than me waffling on, I'm going to come to the authors and ask them to introduce themselves and their books.

All of these books have been championed long and hard by our booksellers.

And so, first of all, a huge congratulations to you all for having made such an impact on booksellers who, of course, read books all day, every day.

Well, not all day, every day they're working, but in between working and being at home.

They are reading and devouring books.

They know exactly what they're looking for.

And you have been selected as the most exciting new voices in fiction.

So huge congratulations.

Enough of me.

Let's hear from the authors.

So alphabetically, by surname, as any good bookseller should, I'm going to come to our first author, who is Madeleine Cash.

A fantastic and very, very good tease for your novel there, Madeline.

The next author we'll be coming to is Rebecca Perry.

Fantastic.