TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 15, 1989

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1
CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
Tom Clancy
Cover of CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

by Tom Clancy · Putnam

9 wks at #1 · 7 on list

At the end of the prologue to Clear and Present Danger, Clancy writes, "And so began something that had not quite begun and would not soon end, with many people in many places moving off in directions and on missions which they all mistakenly thought they understood. That was just as well. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected, illusory finish lines were things fated by the decisions made this morning--and, once decided, best unseen." In Clear and Present Danger nothing is as clear as it may seem.The president, unsatisfied with the success of his "war on drugs," decides that he wants some immediate success. But after John Clark's covert strike team is deployed to Colombia for Operation Showboat, the drug lords strike back taking several civilian casualties. The chief executive's polls plummet. He orders Ritter to terminate their unofficial plan and leave no traces. Jack Ryan, who has just been named CIA deputy director of intelligence is enraged when he discovers that has been left out of the loop of Colombian operations. Several of America's most highly trained soldiers are stranded in an unfinished mission that, according to all records, never existed. Ryan decides to get the men out.

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PILLARS OF THE EARTH
Ken Follett
Cover of PILLARS OF THE EARTH

PILLARS OF THE EARTH

by Ken Follett · Morrow

5 wks on list

Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known. Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes "The Pillars of the Earth" extraordinary is the time--the twelfth century; the place--feudal England; and the subject--the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters--into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life. The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king. At once a sensuous and endearing love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age, "The Pillars of the Earth" is without a doubt Ken Follett's masterpiece.

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JIMMY STEWART AND HIS POEMS
Jimmy Stewart
Cover of JIMMY STEWART AND HIS POEMS

JIMMY STEWART AND HIS POEMS

by Jimmy Stewart · Crown

4 wks on list

"I'm sure I never said to myself: 'Now, Jim--why don't you sit down and write a poem.' It's still a mystery to me, but I think probably it's something that happened by accident--like a lot of things have happened in my life." So begins this delightful collection of poetry by America's best-loved actor, Jimmy Stewart. Interspersed with vivid recollections and charming illustrations, the poems document a life that isn't too different from yours or mine. Jimmy Stewart won the hearts of generations of movie viewers with a confused innocence and stammering delivery that made his acting seem genuine and effortless. Somehow he managed to make the boy next door into a national hero. Now, in Jimmy Stewart and His Poems, the consummate Everyman shares tales from his everyday life. From fishing trips and dog stories to a hilarious account of a photo safari where the camera was lost to a hungry hyena, the poems are related in Jimmy Stewart's inimitable voice and are enlivened with charming illustrations. The book confirms what we all expected--that the real Jimmy Stewart is every bit as endearing as the film characters he's portrayed. Jimmy Stewart and His Poems is a perfect gift, one that fans will treasure as much as Jimmy Stewart's timeless performances.

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CALIFORNIA GOLD
John Jakes
Cover of CALIFORNIA GOLD

CALIFORNIA GOLD

by John Jakes · Random House

5 wks on list

Explores the lure and legends of California from 1886 to 1921 when the area was transformed from a frontier into a modern state.

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THE LOST YEARS
J.M. Dillard
Cover of THE LOST YEARS

THE LOST YEARS

by J.M. Dillard · Pocket

2 wks on list

After the end of the EnterpriseTM's five-year mission, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy struggle to establish new lives apart from each other and the starship. The newly-promoted Admiral Kirk is placed in charge of a specially-created Starfleet division and attempts to defuse a critical hostage situation; Mr. Spock, who, in the midst of a teaching assignment on Vulcan, finds the one thing he least expected; and Dr. McCoy, whose unerring instinct for trouble lands him smack in the middle of an incident that could trigger an interstellar bloodbath.

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SILENT PARTNER
Jonathan Kellerman
Cover of SILENT PARTNER

SILENT PARTNER

by Jonathan Kellerman · Bantam

3 wks on list

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Guilt. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER At a party for a controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex Delaware encounters a face from his own past—Sharon Ransom, an exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that she desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The next day she is dead, an apparent suicide. “A complex and haunting story of tangled personalities, deeply buried family secrets, and of violence lying thinly under the surface . . . hits the reader right between the eyes.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review Driven by guilt and sadness, Alex plunges into the maze of Sharon’s life—a journey that will take him through the pleasure palaces of California’s ultrarich, into the alleyways of the mind, where childhood terrors still hold sway.

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THE JOY LUCK CLUB
Amy Tan
Cover of THE JOY LUCK CLUB

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

by Amy Tan · Putnam

28 wks on list
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THE RUSSIA HOUSE
John le Carré
Cover of THE RUSSIA HOUSE
11
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JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN
Joseph F. Girzone
Cover of JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN

JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN

by Joseph F. Girzone · Macmillan

9 wks on list

A stranger, Joshua, arrives in an ordinary village only to witness the activities of unscrupulous people. The children are the first to recognize that something is different about Joshua, and it is through the villagers' children that Joshua is able to restore a sense of peacefulness and honesty.

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NEW
THE MINOTAUR
Stephen Coonts
Cover of THE MINOTAUR
15
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BLESSINGS
Belva Plain
Cover of BLESSINGS

BLESSINGS

by Belva Plain · Delacorte Press

11 wks on list

A successful lawyer's idyllic life is turned upside down when the daughter she gave up for adoption nineteen years earlier appears at her door and wants to become a part of her life.

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KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR
Jude Deveraux
Cover of KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR

KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR

by Jude Deveraux · Pocket

10 wks on list

While at an old English church, Dougless Montgomery meets a strange young man who claims he is from the sixteenth century, and when the two of them begin searching for a way to send him back in time, they find a love that survives for all time.

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