TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of July 12, 1953

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
DESIREE
Annemarie Selinko

DESIREE

by Annemarie Selinko · William Morrow and Company

32 wks at #1 · 24 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.

3
THE DARK ANGEL
Mika Waltari

THE DARK ANGEL

by Mika Waltari · Putnam

4 wks on list

Historical novel about Constantinople at the time of its fall, in 1452-1453.

5
1
THE SILVER CHALICE
Thomas B. Costain
Cover of THE SILVER CHALICE

THE SILVER CHALICE

by Thomas B. Costain · Doubleday and Company, Inc

50 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.

6
KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE
Rumer Godden
Cover of KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE

KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE

by Rumer Godden · Viking Press

5 wks on list

Roman om en ung engelsk enke, hvis livsmod og udholdenhed bærer hende frelst igennem genvordigheder i et afsides indisk bjerglandskab i Kashmir

11
HOTEL TALLYRAND
Paul Hyde Bonner

HOTEL TALLYRAND

by Paul Hyde Bonner · Charles Scribner's Sons

12 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.

12
THE CAINE MUTINY
Herman Wouk
Cover of THE CAINE MUTINY

THE CAINE MUTINY

by Herman Wouk · Doubleday

117 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.

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