TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 3, 1971

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE EXORCIST
William Peter Blatty
Cover of THE EXORCIST

THE EXORCIST

by William Peter Blatty · Harper & Row

12 wks at #1 · 16 on list

Father Damien Karras: 'Where is Regan'Regan MacNeil: 'In here. With us'.The terror begins unobtrusively. Noises in Regan's room, an odd smell, the displacement of furniture, an icy chill. Easy explanations are offered. Then frightening changes start in

4
THE DRIFTERS
James A. Michener
Cover of THE DRIFTERS

THE DRIFTERS

by James A. Michener · Random House

15 wks on list

A Corgi original, this novel is among a group of Michener's books which have been re-issued with new jackets. His other publications include Hawaii, Centennial, Texas, Chesapeake, The Source and Space.

6
3
THEIRS WAS THE KINGDOM
R.F. Delderfield
Cover of THEIRS WAS THE KINGDOM

THEIRS WAS THE KINGDOM

by R.F. Delderfield · Simon & Schuster

2 wks on list

The second book in R.F. Delderfield's Swann family saga. Adam Swann's expanding business empire now stretches as far north as the Scottish Highlands and as far west as the Dublin Pale. Alex, his elder son, is a professional solder; George is a pioneer of the motor industry and his adopted daughter Deborah works to uncover the terrible injustices facing working-class women. The great edifice of the British Empire is beginning to crumble, and as the gap between prosperity and poverty widens Victorian England can no longer afford to be complacent . . .

7
NEW
WHEELS
Arthur Hailey
Cover of WHEELS

WHEELS

by Arthur Hailey · Doubleday

1 wks on list
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1
THE BELL JAR
Sylvia Plath
Cover of THE BELL JAR

THE BELL JAR

by Sylvia Plath · Harper & Row

22 wks on list

Esther Greenwood begins the summer with an internship at a popular women’s magazine, but her hopes for a career as a writer are dashed when she returns home to Massachusetts to discover she’s been rejected from a prestigious writing seminar. Listless and suffering from the onset of depression, Esther attempts suicide, and eventually finds herself in a variety of hospitals undergoing controversial electro-shock therapy. American author Sylvia Plath’s only novel, The Bell Jar has been read and discussed widely for its dark humour, honest portrayal of mental illness, and feminist point of view, and is noted for its parallels to the author’s own life—Plath committed suicide only a month into the book’s UK publication. Ultimately, The Bell Jar ’s exploration of the pressure on young women of Plath’s time to conform to societal expectations has influenced both literature and pop culture in the decades since its publication. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

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