TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 11, 1993

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE CLIENT
John Grisham
Cover of THE CLIENT

THE CLIENT

by John Grisham · Doubleday

4 wks at #1 · 4 on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A white-knuckle legal thriller that begins in a weedy lot on the outskirts of Memphis, when two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb. . . . “The desire to find out what happens next keeps the reader turning the pages. Grisham is an absolute master of the chase story.”—The Washington Post Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client—even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom . . . or cost them both their lives.

2
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
Robert James Waller
Cover of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

by Robert James Waller · Warner

35 wks on list

Fall in love with one of the bestselling novels of all time -- the legendary love story that became a beloved film starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. If you've ever experienced the one true love of your life, a love that for some reason could never be, you will understand why readers all over the world are so moved by this small, unknown first novel that they became a publishing phenomenon and #1 bestseller. The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, The Bridges of Madison County gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere -- and shows us what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.

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AMERICAN STAR
Jackie Collins
Cover of AMERICAN STAR

AMERICAN STAR

by Jackie Collins · Simon & Schuster

2 wks on list

Jackie Collins' "American Star" is a love story for the nineties. At its heart are two extraordinary lovers, separated by tragic circumstances, yearning for each other, yet seemingly never able to be together again. Nick and Lauren can never forget each other. Teenage small-town lovers-- he from the wrong side of the tracks, she the prettiest girl in town-- their love was the town scandal, forbidden, sizzling and unforgettable, ending abruptly in a tragedy that sent them into separate orbits. Nick pursues his dream of acting, and after a series of wild adventures begins the slow rise that will make him one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Lauren goes to New York and enters the modeling world, surprising everyone with a career that takes off in a direction she never expected. "American Star" follows them both on their trips to fame, as Nick and Lauren, haunted by the secret they share, try to live without each other-- only to find they can't. "American Star" is a compelling story of love, sex and murder, set against the glamorous backgrounds of New York and Hollywood, as only Jackie Collins can tell it. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

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EINSTEIN'S DREAMS
Alan Lightman
Cover of EINSTEIN'S DREAMS

EINSTEIN'S DREAMS

by Alan Lightman · Pantheon

8 wks on list

It is ten minutes past six by the invisible clock on the wall. The young patents clerk sprawls in his chair, dreaming about time. He is Albert Einstein, and in his dreams he imagines new worlds, in which time can be circular, or flow backwards, or slow down at higher altitudes.

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DEGREE OF GUILT
Richard North Patterson
Cover of DEGREE OF GUILT

DEGREE OF GUILT

by Richard North Patterson · Knopf

11 wks on list

Christopher Paget is a trial lawyer with a famous past: as a young investigator in Washington he unearthed a scandal that brought ruin to the President - and an abrupt end to his affair with journalist Mary Carelli. Now, fifteen years later, Carelli is a famous TV journalist in New York and Paget is leading a relatively tranquil life raising their son in San Francisco. Until a charge of murder changes everything. The victim - a world famous (and infamous) novelist. The accused - Mary Carelli. When Paget agrees to defend her, largely for the sake of their son, her claims of attempted rape and self-defence seem water-tight. But gradually secrets from her past come to light and Paget is suddenly facing an explosive mix of public trial and personal conflict leaving his own and his son's fates vulnerable and exposed.

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ALONG CAME A SPIDER
James Patterson
Cover of ALONG CAME A SPIDER

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

by James Patterson · Little, Brown

10 wks on list

Life changes for Deputy Chief of Detectives Alex Cross when he is drawn into a high-profile case. Two nine-year-old children are kidnapped by a teacher, Gary Soneji, from the prestigious Washington Day School. Maggie Rose Dunne is the daughter of an actress, and Michael "Shrimpie" Goldberg is the son of the Secretary of Treasury. A ransom of $10 million is demanded.

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