TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of June 26, 1983

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
Jump to
1
NEW
RETURN OF THE JEDI
Joan D. Vinge

RETURN OF THE JEDI

by Joan D. Vinge · Random House

In a sequel to "The Star Wars Storybook" and "The Empire Strikes Back Storybook", Luke Skywalker and his friends in the Rebel Alliance formulate a daring plan to battle with the Empire and its evil leaders, Darth Vader and the Emperor.

4
HEARTBURN
Nora Ephron
Cover of HEARTBURN

HEARTBURN

by Nora Ephron · Knopf

9 wks on list

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wishing him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes.

6
THE SUMMER OF KATYA
Trevanian
8
1
VOICE OF THE HEART
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Cover of VOICE OF THE HEART

VOICE OF THE HEART

by Barbara Taylor Bradford · Doubleday

13 wks on list

With her stunning beauty, brilliant talent, and almost magical allure, the irresistible Katherine Tempest has the world at her feet. Her rise from unknown actress to Hollywood legend is one marked by dazzling performances and a carefully concealed, yet undeniably ruthless, determination to succeed. Katherine irrevocably changes the lives of her closest friends: the two men who love her, the woman who trusts her implicitly. She never looks back until she needs the one thing they alone can give her- forgiveness. As she did so masterfully in her magnificent trilogy of A Woman of Substance, Hold the Dream, and To Be the Best, Barbara Taylor Bradford draws us into a world of a strong and powerful woman who made her choices...then was left to live with them. Moving from the stages of London to the bright lights of Hollywood, this is a richly detailed and deeply emotional novel that comes straight from Barbara Taylor Bradford's heart to yours.

13
2
BANKER
Dick Francis
Cover of BANKER

BANKER

by Dick Francis · Putnam

13 wks on list

A classic mystery from Dick Francis, the champion of English storytellers. Tim Ekaterin has a lot of money. Unfortunately, it is other people's, and it is his job to invest it wisely, or get fired. And right now he's taken a big risk: using £5 million to stud a champion racing stallion. When the resulting foals have birth defects, Tim is worried and decides that there may be something else going on at the stables. His suspicions are confirmed when one of those helping with the horses is murdered. Now it's not just about money, but about life and death. Determined to get to the bottom of why anyone would do this, Tim puts himself in danger's path to discover the truth . . . Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror 'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph 'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman 'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard 'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express 'A super chiller and killer' New York Times Book Review

14
2
THE VALLEY OF HORSES
Jean M. Auel
Cover of THE VALLEY OF HORSES

THE VALLEY OF HORSES

by Jean M. Auel · Crown

43 wks on list

Forced to leave the Clan, and her young son, Ayla sets out alone to travel the frigid steppes until she finds the valley of horses. Unable to find people like herself, the Cro Magnons, she settles there and seeks friendship elsewhere. First she adopts a young filly, then a wounded lion cub. But far to the west, two young Cro Magnon brothers have begun a journey. One of them is Jondalar, whose destiny is bound inextricably with Ayla's. Jean Auel's imaginative reconstruction of pre-historic life, rich in detail of language, culture, myth and ritual, has become a set text in schools and colleges around the world.

15
NEW
SPACE
James A. Michener
Cover of SPACE

SPACE

by James A. Michener · Random House

Engineer Stanley Mott, astronomy student John Pope, naval hero Norman Grant, and rocket engineer Dieter Kolff serve as principals in the forty-year history of America's space program and share the complex drama with numerous others.

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