TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 18, 1981

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE COVENANT
James A. Michener
Cover of THE COVENANT

THE COVENANT

by James A. Michener · Random House

25 wks at #1 · 13 on list
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1
FIRESTARTER
Stephen King
Cover of FIRESTARTER

FIRESTARTER

by Stephen King · Viking Press

22 wks on list

Master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic #1 New York Times bestseller—now a major motion picture! Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson were once college students looking to make some extra cash, volunteering as test subjects for an experiment orchestrated by the clandestine government organization known as The Shop. But the outcome unlocked exceptional latent psychic talents for the two of them—manifesting in even more terrifying ways when they fell in love and had a child. Their daughter, Charlie, has been gifted with the most extraordinary and uncontrollable power ever seen—pyrokinesis, the ability to create fire with her mind. Now the merciless agents of The Shop are in hot pursuit to apprehend this unexpected genetic anomaly for their own diabolical ends by any means necessary...including violent actions that may well ignite the entire world around them as Charlie retaliates with a fury of her own...

3
1
THE KEY TO REBECCA
Ken Follett
Cover of THE KEY TO REBECCA
4
1
LOON LAKE
E.L. Doctorow

LOON LAKE

by E.L. Doctorow · Random House

16 wks on list

During the Great Depression of the '30s, a passionate, young New Jersey man leaves home to find his fortune. What he finds is a life so different from his own that it changes his destiny. A haunting story of dreams and desires, repackaged to match Doctorow's other bestsellers. Reprint from Bantam. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

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ANSWER AS A MAN
Taylor Caldwell
Cover of ANSWER AS A MAN

ANSWER AS A MAN

by Taylor Caldwell · Putnam's

4 wks on list

"The powerful odyssey of a man of passionate principles in a decadent age ... A valiant man, haunted by forbidden yearnings. An innocent Pennsylvania town, under siege by the forces of corruption, a widening net of scandal and tragedy, threatening both the good and the evil alike.

7
THE FIFTH HORSEMAN
Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

THE FIFTH HORSEMAN

by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre · Simon & Schuster

19 wks on list

The threat of Libya's Colonel Quaddafi to explode a three-megaton nuclear bomb hidden in New York, unless an autonomous Palestinian state is immediately established, affects the lives of ordinary citizens, politicians, secret agents, and terrorists from Washington to Jerusalem.

8
2
RAGE OF ANGELS
Sidney Sheldon
Cover of RAGE OF ANGELS
10
1
THE ORIGIN
Irving Stone

THE ORIGIN

by Irving Stone · Doubleday

21 wks on list

Details the life of Charles Darwin from his notable trip as a naturalist on the Beagle through his mature career as a widely respected but still controversial scientist.

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