Photography: Jean Malek, Jonathan Ring
Charts Global bestsellers Lapena leads the way
A début crime fiction novel that has never topped the weekly bestseller lists has
emerged as the UK’s top seller of 2017 to date. Kiera O’Brien reports
t ts
every Nielsen BookScan terri- tory saw J K Rowling et al’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child lock down the number one from July onwards. This year, however, has thrown up a few more curveballs, especially in the US. Insta-poet Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey has rampaged into the US number one, selling nearly 700,000 copies for the year to date—in addi- tion to the half a million units it had sold prior to 2017. Twentieth-centur dystopian fiction greats Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale nd George Orwell’s Nineteen Eight- four hit the chart’s upper echelons, and in the wider chart, an ode to “hillbilly America” rubs shoulders with a guide to astrophysics, a couple of sweary self-help guides and a YA novel in which modern- day teens know about—and can use— cassete tapes.
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the weekly Official UK Top 50—has emerged as the year’s bestseller. Lapena and Ruth Ware seem to be taking part in a crime-writer exchange programme. While the US author’ The Couple Next Door tops the UK’s chart, selling 309,176 copies and outpacing its Richard & Judy Book
over the UK number one spot for much of the year, a début crime title, Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door—which, as yet, has never topped has
The UK and Ireland charts are almost pedestrian in comparison. While chart veterans Lee Child and David Walliams have been tussling r
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Her latest hardback, The Lying Game, has already sold nearly 70,000 copies since its release in July, and The Woman in Cabin 10 is the third-best- selling fiction title of the year to date, beating both Atwood and Orwell— which, in 2017, is a big deal.
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In another twist, Ireland has defini- tively plumped for Paula Hawkins’ Into the Water, its bestselling fiction title of the year. In the UK, despite selling well in hardback Into the Water has actually sold fewer copies in 2017 than Hawkins’ resilient début The Girl on the Train. Yet in Ireland The Girl on the Train’s sales have derailed drastically, enabling Into the Water to take its place. The Irish clearly still like a psychological
y sold fewer copies in 2017 ins’ resilient début The Train. Yet The Girl on sales have astically
nto theWater place. The y still like gical
11th October 2017 N 20 1 6 , THE only thing that
remained predictable was the bestseller charts: nearly
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Club comrades by more than 100,000 copies, across the Atlantic it has sold a more modest 185,843 copies. That still puts it among the 30 top-selling fiction titles for the year to date in the US. However, given that the UK’s population is only 20% that of the US, it seems something about the child- kidnapped-from-bedroom-while- parents-socialise-only-metres-away storyline clearly struck a particular chord this side of the pond. In contrast, British author Ware has sold moderately well on home soil, with her début In a Dark, Dark Wood her top seller (71,467 units). However, the US seemingly cannot bear to be Ruth-less (sorry), with In a Dark, Dark Wood and the follow-up, The Woman in Cabin 10, combining to shiſt over 1.2 million copies Stateside.
David Walliams has three titles in the UK’s overall top 20, and also scored a clean sweep of the kids’ chart, penning the five top-selling
children’s books of 2017
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