TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of May 15, 2005

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THE MERMAID CHAIR
Sue Monk Kidd
Cover of THE MERMAID CHAIR

THE MERMAID CHAIR

by Sue Monk Kidd · Viking Press

4 wks on list

43-årige Jessie Sullivan, som lever et begivenhedsløst liv i Atlanta med mand og en datter, bliver kaldt hjem til sin barndoms ø Egret, da moderen Nelle Skærer sine fingre af; hun konfronteres med minderne om faderens død i en bådulykke, som hun altid har følt sig delvis ansvarlig for, og moderen har hun aldrig stået særlig nær.

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THE DA VINCI CODE
Dan Brown
Cover of THE DA VINCI CODE

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

111 wks on list

THE #1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING PHENOMENON, WITH MORE THAN 85 MILLION COPIES SOLD “Blockbuster perfection . . . a gleefully erudite suspense novel.” —The New York Times “A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure.” —People While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever. Robert Langdon returns in The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (coming soon)!

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REVENGE OF THE SITH
Matthew Stover
Cover of REVENGE OF THE SITH

REVENGE OF THE SITH

by Matthew Stover · Lucas/Del Rey/Ballantine

5 wks on list

Based on the screenplay of the movie, Star Wars: Episode III, the novel brings the epic full circle, revealing at last just how the young Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, became the most evil villain in the galaxy, Darth Vader, and father to Luke and Leia. When the novel opens, the Clone Wars are still in full cry, and numerous Jedi have already been lost. Anakin is struggling with his dual life: Jedi Knight and husband (in secret) to Padme Amidala. The time is drawing near for the machiavellian Darth Sidious--the Sith Lord determined to wrest control of the galaxy from the Republic--to draw tight the noose he has been creating around Anakin Skywalker...and create a new Sith Lord with unmatched dark-side Force powers... Possibly the most anticipated Star Wars movie of all time, Star Wars: Episode III at last tells the tale of how the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, the most feared villain in the galaxy. The novel will go "behind the scenes" into the characters' thoughts as well as expand on scenes seen in the movie.

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IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES
Alexander McCall Smith
Cover of IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES

IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES

by Alexander McCall Smith · Pantheon

2 wks on list

The sixth book in the multi-million copy bestselling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series The one where Mma Makutsi finds a dancing partner . . . Although Mma Ramotswe and Mr J. L. B. Matekoni have finally settled down, at the shared premises of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Speedy Motors, the staff - especially Mma Makutsi and Charlie the garage apprentice - are not mixing in a perfectly peaceful manner. But in the course of investigating her latest case, of a very unhappy young lady, Mma Ramotswe's tiny white van comes into contact with a man on a bicycle who might be able to restore harmony. And Mma Makutsi does at last seem to have found someone special... 'A rare pleasure' Daily Telegraph 'Gentle, rich' Sunday Times 'A strong, independent and endearing model for contemporary women' Boston Globe 'A literary confection... there is no end to the pleasure' New York Times

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SUPERSTITION
Karen Robards
Cover of SUPERSTITION

SUPERSTITION

by Karen Robards · Putnam

1 wks on list

Karen Robards tiene un gran talento para crear personajes y una habilidad única para combinar misterio, humor y. en este caso, elementos sobrenaturales. La reportera Nicole Sullivan investiga el único asesinato no resuelto de la comunidad: el apuñalamiento de laadolescente Tara Mitchell y la desaparición de sus dos mejores amigas. A medida que crece la atracción entre ella y el jefe de policía, Joe Franconi, el número de muertes aumenta, y también el peligro para Nicole... Karen Robards es autora de más de veinte novelas, que han figurado en las listas de más vendidos del New York Times. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Nicky Sullivan -looking for a story for her failing investigative news program- turns to the local psychic, her mother, for help. The only problem is that her mother, who agreed to a live broadcast, is having problems communicating with the dead, and Nicky is worried that the show will be a bust.

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SATURDAY
Ian McEwan
Cover of SATURDAY

SATURDAY

by Ian McEwan · Nan A. Talese/Doubleday

6 wks on list

Ein Samstag, der mit einem brennenden Flugzeug über der Stadt beginnt, wird das Leben des Arztes Henry Perowne von Grund auf verändern. Es ist der 15. Februar 2003, der Tag der grössten Demonstration in London gegen den Irakkrieg. Die Ereignisse überschlagen sich, als Perowne einen Autounfall verursacht, und die Insassen sich als gewalttätig entpuppen.

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THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN
Mitch Albom
Cover of THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

by Mitch Albom · Hyperion

84 wks on list

Plot Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here" Personal Details Collection Status In Collection Index 10 Read It Yes Links Amazon US Product Details LoC Classification PS3601.L335F59 2003 Dewey 813/.6

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GILEAD
Marilynne Robinson
Cover of GILEAD

GILEAD

by Marilynne Robinson · Farrar, Straus & Giroux

5 wks on list

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER• OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER• A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • MORE THAN 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD “Quietly powerful [and] moving.” O, The Oprah Magazine (recommended reading) Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, GILEAD is a hymn of praise and lamentation to the God-haunted existence that Reverend Ames loves passionately, and from which he will soon part. In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War," then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend Ames writes to his son about the tension between his father--an ardent pacifist--and his grandfather, whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and those settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend's wayward son. This is also the tale of another remarkable vision--not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in Ames's soul during his solitary life, and how history lives through generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten.

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A STROKE OF MIDNIGHT
Laurell K. Hamilton
Cover of A STROKE OF MIDNIGHT

A STROKE OF MIDNIGHT

by Laurell K. Hamilton · Ballantine

3 wks on list

In her fourth appearance, private investigator and heir to the throne of Fairie Meredith Gentry continues her quest to produce a child. As pregnancy becomes more urgent, Merry must leave the protected beds of the Queen's Ravens and lay with other men--men whose designs and allegiances remain in question. Unabridged. 5 CDs.

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A GOOD YARN
Debbie Macomber
Cover of A GOOD YARN

A GOOD YARN

by Debbie Macomber · Mira

1 wks on list

The highly anticipated sequel to "The Shop on Blossom Street." Once again, a disparate group of women find friendship and comfort as they learn the age-old craft of knitting

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TWO OF A KIND
Nora Roberts
Cover of TWO OF A KIND

TWO OF A KIND

by Nora Roberts · Silhouette

Features two of the author's timeless romances--"Impulse," in which a young woman embraces change and a Greek stranger, and "The Best Mistake," in which a single mother finds romance with her new tenant.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.