TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 17, 1954

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
1
LOVE IS ETERNAL
Irving Stone

LOVE IS ETERNAL

by Irving Stone · Doubleday

11 wks at #1 · 7 on list

A sympathetic portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln. The author pictures her marriage to Abraham Lincoln as a great love story.

2
1
MARY ANNE
Daphne du Maurier
8
1
THE DOLLMAKER
Harriette Arnow
Cover of THE DOLLMAKER

THE DOLLMAKER

by Harriette Arnow · Macmillan

23 wks on list

Gertie Nevels and her husband Clovis are untouched by city life until the outbreak of World War II. They are forced to abandon their Kentucky mountain home and travel to Detroit so that Clovis can participate in the war effort by repairing heavy machinery. Gertie's survival techniques are useless in an urban milieu. In spite of the debasing effect of city life, Gertie maintains her faith in her fellow beings.

11
NEW
KATHERINE
Anya Seton
Cover of KATHERINE

KATHERINE

by Anya Seton · Houghton Mifflin

1 wks on list

This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history-- that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets-- Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II-- who ruled despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king's son, falls passionately in love with the already married Katherine. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption. This epic novel of conflict, cruelty, and untamable love has become a classic since its first publication in 1954.

16
NEW
THE WICKED PAVILION
Dawn Powell
Cover of THE WICKED PAVILION

THE WICKED PAVILION

by Dawn Powell · Houghton Mifflin

Story of mid-century New York, and the people who frequented the Cafe Julien, just off Washington Square.

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