TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 4, 1949

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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4
2
TWILIGHT ON THE FLOODS
Marguerite Steen
Cover of TWILIGHT ON THE FLOODS

TWILIGHT ON THE FLOODS

by Marguerite Steen · Doubleday

3 wks on list

Matt Flood's grandson goes to the Gold Coast and is in the Ashanti War.

6
NEW
A RAGE TO LIVE
John O'Hara
Cover of A RAGE TO LIVE

A RAGE TO LIVE

by John O'Hara · Random House

1 wks on list

'O'Hara is the only American writer to whom America presents itself as a social scene in the way it once presented itself to Henry James, or France to Proust' The New York Times When the beautiful, imperious and moneyed Grace Caldwell Tate wants something she goes after it, men included. Her affair scandalises Pennsylvania's elite and she must face the costs to her marriage and the man she really loves. A bestseller on publication in 1949, A Rage to Live is a candid tale of idealists and libertines, tradesmen and crusaders, men of violence and goodwill, and women of fierce strength and tenderness.

7
2
PRIDE'S CASTLE
Frank Yerby
10
NEW
THE MUDLARK
Theodore Bonnet
Cover of THE MUDLARK
12
4
THE BRAVE BULLS
Tom Lea
Cover of THE BRAVE BULLS

THE BRAVE BULLS

by Tom Lea · Little, Brown. & Company

18 wks on list

Action and glory of a matador, the idol of the bull ring. This is the story of Luis Bello, "The Swordsman of Guerreras", the greatest matador in Mexico, who is at the top of his profession, with everything that comes with it, money, a mistress, family and friends, bravado, the crowds are infatuated with him. But one day fear changes everything, he suddenly feels a fear that previously he had not felt in the invincibility that comes with healthy-macho-youth. His best friend and manager, Raul Fuentes, is killed in a car crash along with Luis's mistress, Linda de Calderon, after Linda and Raul had spent a romantic weekend together. This betrayal shakes Luis's beliefs about what has been real and what is real now. Now Luis must deal with these new-found feelings while at the same time facing the most feared bulls in all of Mexico, "the brave bulls". In his first fight after the auto accident he is gored by a bull because of the doubt and guilt that has come into the ring with him. In addition, while under the influence of Tequila, and some pressure from ring promoter Eladio Gomez, he agreed to let his younger brother Pepe fight these top bulls with him. Luis must now examine his life to find out where the courage comes from and if he can get it back.

13
OPUS 21
Philip Wylie
Cover of OPUS 21

OPUS 21

by Philip Wylie · Rinehart & Company

14 wks on list

"Satiric picture of life at a fashionable New York hotel." Cf. Hanna, A. Mirror for the nation

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