IN BRIEF Top 10 Italy


Book buyers in Italy tend to back their own, with home- grown authors dominating a diverse top 10 of vloggers, crime and, er, Stilton...


Text Kiera O’Brien 3 Rico’s Version prevails


Anti-mafia judge-turned-thriller writer Gianrico Carofiglio scored third place in Italy with La Versione di Fenoglio (The Version of Fengolio).


5


Scurati’s contested M lights up bestseller lists


Antonio Scurati’s M: The Son of the y


Benito Mussolini and the Fascist he early 20th estselling


takeover of Italy in the early 20th century, is the fifth-bes book of the year. Despit


tions of historical errors, Scur title has sold more than 216,000 copies in Italy since its public in September 2018, more than sixore than six ny of his


times the volume of any of his won r


previous titles. It also wo the Strega Prize earlier this year.


8


Ferrante’s Brilliant novel boosted by TV adaptation


The mysterious Elena Ferrante has not one, but two titles in her Neopolitan Quartet in the Italian top 10 (see also 10), doubtless boosted by the news that she would be publishing her first new novel in four years. L’Amica Geniale (My Brilliant Friend) has sold 89,887 copies in 2019 to date, boosted by the HBO-produced television adaptation. Since publication, it’s sold more than 850,000 copies to become the terri- tory’s second-bestselling title of all time.


TheBookseller.com


spite accusa- ors, Scurati’s an 216,000 s publication


cusa-


Century, the first book in a trilogy on d the Fascist


6


Bestseller Lists Italy Top 10


1


Late Andrea still tops


of the charts


Andrea Camillieri died earlier this year aged 93, but that hasn’t stopped the legendary crime novelist from topping the Italian chart. The hugely popular author sold more than eight million books in his native land, with his latest novel, Il Cuoco dell’Alcyon (The Cook of Alcyon), shifting 223,101 copies since its release in May.


4


Top


2 Lion roars for Auci


Stefania Auci’s historical family epic I Leoni di Sicilia (The Lion of Sicily) is second in Italy’s chart. The author’s breakthrough title has shifted 193,792 copies to date.


Stilton kicks up a stink in mainland Europe


children’s hero


Geronimo Stilton is a bespectaculed mouse behemoth on the continent. In his pseudonymous author Elisabetta Dami’s homeland of Italy, the series has sold more than 10 million copies, with a further 14 million units sold in Spain. Stilton/Dami’s latest title Geronimo Stilton Doppia Wow (Double Wow) features two stories and is the top-selling Children’s title in Italy for the year to date, with 127,070 copies sold since its publication in June. Curiously, despite the mouse’s surname, he’s never really broken through in the UK, with his most recent titles barely cracking the 500-unit mark through Nielsen BookScan’s UK TCM.


Antonio Manzini is famous in Italy


as a film actor, but his crime writing hobby helps pay the bills—Rien Na Va Plus, which is part of his La Memoria series, has sold 120,984 copies in 2019 to date.


9


Beautiful bargain tops homegrown Rebel Girls


Le Storie Più Belle (The Most Beautiful Stories) was by far the cheapest book in Italy’s top 10, retailing at just €0.99. Aside from Ferrante’s boomeranging Neopolitan books, it was also the oldest book in the chart, released in March 2018. This year alone it’s sold 87,249 copies, and managed to leap- frog Italian duo Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli’s kids’ book titan, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.


7


Vlogger duo Me Contro Te in seventh heaven


Once upon a time the UK charts were jam-packed with YouTubers, with and Phil, or


a new Zoella, or Dan and Phil, or PewDiePie entering the charts nearly every week across 2015-16. However, the trend has almost completely died out now—unless Jordan Peterson counts. But in Italy, homegrown vloggers still pack a punch, with duo Me Contro Te’s Entra in


d n ers


Nel Mondo di Luì e Sofì n seventh place.


10


L’Amica Geniale’s sequel Storia del


Nuovo Cognome (The Story of a New Name) bumped up behind its predecessor into 10th place, with 75,770 copies sold. The second series of the TV adaptation was announced last year.


13


e charts nearly 5-


Hit


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