TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 7, 2024

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1
FOURTH WING
Rebecca Yarros
Cover of FOURTH WING

FOURTH WING

by Rebecca Yarros · Red Tower

22 wks at #1 · 33 on list

As war grows more deadly, Violet Sorrengail joins the elite Navarre: the dragon riders. But she'll need to keep her wits because once you enter the Basgiath War College, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

2
THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE
James McBride
Cover of THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE

by James McBride · Riverhead

18 wks on list

WATERSTONES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2024 THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER BARACK OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK AMAZON.COM NO.1 BOOK OF THE YEAR 'I loved this book' BONNIE GARMUS 'A generous, compassionate book about the power of love and community' LOUISE KENNEDY 'I can't recommend this one highly enough ' HARLAN COBEN 'THIS is his best book' ANN PATCHETT In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where Jewish immigrants and African Americans lived side by side through the 1920s and '30s. In this novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them, James McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community - heaven and earth - that sustain us.

3
IRON FLAME
Rebecca Yarros
Cover of IRON FLAME

IRON FLAME

by Rebecca Yarros · Red Tower

7 wks on list

"Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College--Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet's already wondering how she'll get through. It's not just that it's grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it's designed to stretch the riders' capacity for pain beyond endurance. It's the new vice commandant, who's made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is-unless she betrays the man she loves. Although Violet's body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else's, she still has her wits--and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules. But a determination to survive won't be enough this year. Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College--and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end." --

4
THE EXCHANGE
John Grisham
6
1
HOLLY
Stephen King
Cover of HOLLY

HOLLY

by Stephen King · Scribner

16 wks on list

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl's desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down

7
1
THE LITTLE LIAR
Mitch Albom
Cover of THE LITTLE LIAR

THE LITTLE LIAR

by Mitch Albom · Harper

6 wks on list

Eleven-year-old Nico Crispi never told a lie. When the Nazi's invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading towards "the east" where they are promised jobs and safety. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. But when the final train is at the station, Nico sees his family being loaded into a large boxcar crowded with other neighbors. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that he helped send the people he loved--and all the others--to their doom at Auschwitz. Nico never tells the truth again.

8
1
ALEX CROSS MUST DIE
James Patterson
Cover of ALEX CROSS MUST DIE

ALEX CROSS MUST DIE

by James Patterson · Little, Brown

5 wks on list

NOW THE INSPIRATION FOR THE ORIGINAL SERIES 'CROSS' ON PRIME VIDEO TWO KILLERS. TWO MOTIVES. A DEADLY RACE AGAINST TIME. When an American Airlines plane explodes in the sky, detectives Alex Cross and John Sampson are first on the scene. They don't hear the gunfire. At first. It soon becomes clear that the plane was taken down by a rare, stolen machine gun. The list of people who could operate the weapon is short. And time runs even shorter. But this isn't the only case the pair must solve. They're also tracking a serial killer who's ambushing young men in what the media are calling the 'Dead Hours' murders. With two killers and two different motives, Cross and Sampson are in a deadly race against time . . . The latest thriller in the globally bestselling series has arrived. ________________________________ Readers are loving Alex Cross Must Die . . . ***** 'The brilliant new action-packed thriller' ***** 'I just cannot get enough of these fast-paced, page-turning crime thrillers' ***** 'This story is full of surprises' ***** 'I LOVE Alex Cross, roll on the next book!' ***** 'The Alex Cross books are amongst the finest detective stories in the world' _______________________________ PRAISE FOR THE ALEX CROSS SERIES 'Patterson never, and I mean never, disappoints' USA Today 'Behind all the noise and the numbers, we shouldn't forget that no one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades. The Alex Cross series proves it' Lee Child 'Alex Cross is a legend' Harlan Coben 'Alex Cross ... only gets better and better' Lisa Scottoline '[Alex Cross] has become one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time, a character for the ages' Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child Alex Cross Must Die was a no.6 Sunday Times bestseller 05/12/2023

9
NEW
DEMON COPPERHEAD
Barbara Kingsolver
Cover of DEMON COPPERHEAD

DEMON COPPERHEAD

by Barbara Kingsolver · Harper

WINNER OF THE 2023 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION A New York Times "Ten Best Books of 2022 * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post Bestseller "Demon is a voice for the ages--akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield--only even more resilient." --Beth Macy, author of Dopesick "May be the best novel of 2022. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love." (Ron Charles, Washington Post) From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.

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