TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 20, 1986

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
Robert Ludlum
Cover of THE BOURNE SUPREMACY

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY

by Robert Ludlum · Random House

8 wks at #1 · 7 on list

Scrawled in a pool of blood is one name the world wanted to forget - Jason Bourne...The second, brilliant Bourne novel from worldwide bestselling author Robert Ludlum. 'A killer of a thriller' USA Today 'Watch your back 007 - Bourne is out to get you' Sunday Times Washington, Hong Kong and Peking - terror sweeps the globe. The Vice-Premier of the People's Republic has been brutally murdered by a legendary assassin, and everyone is asking the same fearful questions: why has Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is next on his death list? But US officials know the shocking truth: there is no Jason Bourne. There never was. But someone has resurrected the name, and if he is not stopped, the world will pay a devastating price. Jason Bourne must live again. He must utilise his murderous skills. But this time the will to survive is not enough. This time Bourne must reign supreme...

2
BREAK IN
Dick Francis

BREAK IN

by Dick Francis · Putnam

5 wks on list
3
2
THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS
Jean M. Auel
Cover of THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS
4
1
LAKE WOBEGON DAYS
Garrison Keillor
Cover of LAKE WOBEGON DAYS

LAKE WOBEGON DAYS

by Garrison Keillor · Viking Press

34 wks on list

“Lake Wobegon Days is about the way our beliefs, desires and fears tail off into abstractions--and get renewed from time to time. . . this book, unfolding Mr. Keillor's full design, is a genuine work of American history.” —The New York Times “A comic anatomy of what is small and ordinary and therefore potentially profound and universal in American life…Keillor’s strength as a writer is to make the ordinary extraordinary.” —Chicago Tribune “Keillor’s laughs come dear, not cheap, emerging from shared virtue and good character, from reassuring us of our neighborliness and strength….His true subject is how daily life is shot with grace. Keillor writes a prose that can be turned to laughter, to tears…to compassion or satire, to a hundred effects. He is a brilliant parodist.” —San Francisco Chronicle

5
3
SEASONS OF THE HEART
Cynthia Freeman
Cover of SEASONS OF THE HEART

SEASONS OF THE HEART

by Cynthia Freeman · Putnam

4 wks on list

Set against the backdrop of World War II and beyond, Seasons of the Heart. In 1941, with America at war, Ann Pollock falls in love. Handsome, charming attorney Phillip Coulter is everything she could want in a man and mate. But soon after they marry, Phillip leaves to fight for his country. When he comes home, he's a stranger, his body and spirit broken in a Japanese POW camp. It is only Ann's indomitable will and determination to succeed against all odds that keeps her family together. But her newfound career as a real-estate agent takes a toll on her marriage and especially on her daughter, Evie. And then, at an age when such things are not supposed to happen, Ann finds what she had never dared to dream of: the second great love her life ...

8
1
THE HANDMAID'S TALE
Margaret Atwood
Cover of THE HANDMAID'S TALE

THE HANDMAID'S TALE

by Margaret Atwood · Houghton Mifflin

8 wks on list

"This visionary novel. in which God and Government are joined, and America is run as a Puritanical Theoracy, can be read as a companion volume to Orwell's 1984-its verso, in fact. It gives you the same degree of chill, even as it suggests the varieties of tyrannical experience; it evokes the same kind of horror even as its mordant wit makes you smile." E.L.Doctorow.

10
5
HIGH JINX
William F. Buckley Jr
Cover of HIGH JINX

HIGH JINX

by William F. Buckley Jr · Doubleday

2 wks on list

Blackford Oakes takes on the Russians and a top level traitor during the Cold War in this tale of treason and action-packed adventure. Buckley is the author of See You Later, Alligator and The Story of Henri Tod.

12
2
PRIVATE AFFAIRS
Judith Michael
Cover of PRIVATE AFFAIRS

PRIVATE AFFAIRS

by Judith Michael · Poseidon Press

8 wks on list

Judith Michael has millions of loyal fans. Her first two novels, Deceptions and Possessions, were coast-to-coast hardcover and paperback bestsellers. Now with Private Affairs, she is sure to have her most successful paperback yet!

13
2
TEXAS
James A. Michener
Cover of TEXAS
15
NEW
PARADISE POSTPONED
John Mortimer
Cover of PARADISE POSTPONED

PARADISE POSTPONED

by John Mortimer · Viking Press

1 wks on list

When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected explanation for the legacy. An exquisitely drawn saga of ancient rivalries and class struggles, featuring a glorious cast of characters, Paradise Postponed is a delicious portrait of English country life by a master satirist.

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