TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of May 31, 1953

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
DESIREE
Annemarie Selinko

DESIREE

by Annemarie Selinko · William Morrow and Company

32 wks at #1 · 18 on list

Eugénie Désirée Clary records two love affairs in her diary, one with Napoleon, who jilted her for Josephine, and a second with General Bernadotte, who married her.

2
THE SILVER CHALICE
Thomas B. Costain
Cover of THE SILVER CHALICE

THE SILVER CHALICE

by Thomas B. Costain · Doubleday and Company, Inc

44 wks on list

"This novel [is] based on legends of the years following Christ's crucifixion. [It] describes the life of Basil, the artisan who fashioned the silver chalice, a frame meant to hold the ... cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper"--Fiction catalog.

5
2
HOTEL TALLYRAND
Paul Hyde Bonner

HOTEL TALLYRAND

by Paul Hyde Bonner · Charles Scribner's Sons

6 wks on list

The characters around whom Mr. Bonner spins his sophisticated story are worldly and intelligent people of the diplomatic set-- American and French. Some of them are charming, but S. Livingston Locke, a coldly-ambitious diplomat, scarcely belongs in this category. Locke proves he is willing to sacrifice his best friends to get the ambassadorship he is seeking when his young assistant, Walter Haines, . becomes entangled -with a lovely Communist agent. Haines meets the girl in a plush Paris "house," and from this highly unconventional encounter stems a passionate love affair. For the girl, there is terrible choice -- renunciation of her Communist, role, which can end only in retribution, or the sacrifice of her love. That the choice is not finally hers marks the high point of suspense and drama in the unexpected climax.

8
1
PRINCE BART
Jay Richard Kennedy

PRINCE BART

by Jay Richard Kennedy · Farrar, Straus and Young

10 wks on list

"Passionate and ruthless, film star Bart Blaine took what he wanted. One by one, the most desirable girls in Hollywood passed through his life. Until the day Bart was threatened with the loss of everything he'd won: his wife, the women who'd given him their love, even his fabulous career. Embarking on a sensational Personal Appearance tour, Bart found himself caught in a vicious trap of his own making--a trap that promised nothing but emotional and physical ruin"--Preliminary page

10
5
STEAMBOAT GOTHIC
Frances Parkinson Keyes
Cover of STEAMBOAT GOTHIC

STEAMBOAT GOTHIC

by Frances Parkinson Keyes · Julian Messner, Inc

27 wks on list

Three generations of a southern family show customs and manners of plantation and river life.

11
1
THE CAINE MUTINY
Herman Wouk
Cover of THE CAINE MUTINY

THE CAINE MUTINY

by Herman Wouk · Doubleday

111 wks 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.

14
6
EAST OF EDEN
John Steinbeck
Cover of EAST OF EDEN

EAST OF EDEN

by John Steinbeck · Viking Press

35 wks on list

This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks' and the Hamilton's--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The story of two brothers, Aron is a clean-cut model student, engaged to be married, the pride of his hardworking father. Cal is a rebellious loner, sternly rejected by his father.

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