TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of December 16, 1951

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE CAINE MUTINY
Herman Wouk
Cover of THE CAINE MUTINY

THE CAINE MUTINY

by Herman Wouk · Doubleday

48 wks at #1 · 35 on list

Each decade new readers discover the characters and curious activities aboard the U.S.S. "Caine in this classic tale of pathos, humor, and scope.

2
THE CRUEL SEA
Nicholas Monsarrat
Cover of THE CRUEL SEA

THE CRUEL SEA

by Nicholas Monsarrat · Alfred A. Knopf

18 wks on list

Based on the author's own experiences, this book presents the story of the crew of HMS Compass Rose, a corvette assigned to protect convoys in World War Two. It offers descriptions of agonizing U-boat hunts. It tells of ordinary, heroic men who had to face a brutal menace which would strike without warning from the deep.

5
1
THE END OF THE AFFAIR
Graham Greene
Cover of THE END OF THE AFFAIR

THE END OF THE AFFAIR

by Graham Greene · Viking Press

6 wks on list

Account of a hate bred of a passion that ultimately lost out to God.

9
1
THE BLESSING
Nancy Mitford
Cover of THE BLESSING

THE BLESSING

by Nancy Mitford · Random House

8 wks on list

The love and marriage of a beautiful Englishwoman and a glamorous French marquis.

11
2
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
J.D. Salinger
Cover of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger · Little, Brown and Company,

21 wks on list

'If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.' The first of J. D. Salinger's four books to be published, The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most widely read and beloved of all contemporary American novels. 'The handbook of the adolescent heart' The New Yorker

12
2
WAIT FOR THE WAGON
Mary Lasswell
Cover of WAIT FOR THE WAGON

WAIT FOR THE WAGON

by Mary Lasswell · Houghton Mifflin

2 wks on list

Kindhearted and loudmouthed Mrs. Feeley, Mrs. Rasmussen, and Miss Tinkham have only just set out on their long-awaited cross-country drive to the West Coast when the trouble begins. It's bad enough that they wind up in a seedy, truck stop nightclub, but then it's raided by the police! Thankfully, Chief Connolly can tell they're decent folks and lets them off easy, but he needs a favor in return. He wants them to take a passenger on their trip; a dangerous passenger they'll need to outwit before making it home. Mary Lasswell is firing on all cylinders again in this madcap, slapstick, high-spirited adventure—the fourth to star Mrs. Feeley and friends.

14
2
THE FARMERS HOTEL
John O'Hara
Cover of THE FARMERS HOTEL

THE FARMERS HOTEL

by John O'Hara · Random House

3 wks on list

Story of a group of people snowbound in a hotel on the night of it reopening.

15
NEW
THE HOLY SINNER
Thomas Mann

THE HOLY SINNER

by Thomas Mann · Alfred A. Knopf

11 wks on list

Retelling of a medieval legend "of the exceeding mercy of God and the birth of the Pope Gregory."

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