TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 8, 1950

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE CARDINAL
Henry Morton Robinson
Cover of THE CARDINAL

THE CARDINAL

by Henry Morton Robinson · Simon & Schuster

24 wks at #1 · 27 on list

An "absorbing . . . magnificent" novel about an ordinary Irish Catholic man who ascends the church hierarchy to become Cardinal in the early twentieth century. ( Boston Herald) A selection of the Literary Guild, The Cardinal was published in more than a dozen languages and sold over two million copies. Later made into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Huston, the book tells a story that captured the nation's attention: a working-class American's rise to become a cardinal of the Catholic Church. The daily trials and triumphs of Stephen Fermoyle, from the working-class suburbs of Boston, drive him to become first a parish priest, then secretary to a cardinal, later a bishop, and finally a wearer of the Red Hat. An essential work of American fiction that remains even more relevant today. "Extraordinary . . . controversial . . . first rate storytelling and characterization that has enormous appeal." – Kirkus Reviews

3
FLOODTIDE
Frank Yerby
Cover of FLOODTIDE

FLOODTIDE

by Frank Yerby · Dial Press

6 wks on list
5
1
JUBILEE TRAIL
Gwen Bristow
Cover of JUBILEE TRAIL

JUBILEE TRAIL

by Gwen Bristow · Ty Crowell Co

33 wks on list

Sheltered girl from the East makes the dangerous journey from Santa Fe to Los Angeles in pre-Gold Rush days and learns value of loyal friends.

7
2
THE WALL
John Hersey
Cover of THE WALL

THE WALL

by John Hersey · Alfred A. Knopf

31 wks on list

A novel describing the life of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during Poland's German occupation.

11
3
OWEN GLEN
Ben Ames Williams

OWEN GLEN

by Ben Ames Williams · Houghton Mifflin

4 wks on list

Miner's son in Ohio in 1890.

15
1
THE EGYPTIAN
Mika Waltari
Cover of THE EGYPTIAN

THE EGYPTIAN

by Mika Waltari · Putnam

57 wks on list

Set in Egypt, more than a thousand years before Christ, it encompasses all of the then-known world. It is told by Sinhue, physician to the Pharaoh Akhenaton, and is the story of his life. Through his eyes are seen innumerable characters, fully drawn and covering the whole panorama of the ancient world.

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