TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of December 31, 1995

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE CHRISTMAS BOX
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of THE CHRISTMAS BOX

THE CHRISTMAS BOX

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

5 wks at #1 · 9 on list

Since it was first published, more than seven million people have been touched by the magic of The Christmas Box, a holiday classic that is as beloved in our time as A Christmas Carol was in Dickens's. When Richard Paul Evans wrote The Christmas Box, he intended it as a private expression of love for his two young daughters, Jenna and Allyson. Though he often told them that he loved them, he didn't feel that they could ever really understand the depth of his feelings until they had experienced the joy of rearing their own children, and by that time their relationship would have changed forever. In writing The Christmas Box, he hoped that at some time in the future they would read the book and know of their father's love. As Evans began to write, he was amazed at the inspiration that flowed into his mind and heart. He completed the moving story of a widow and the young family who comes to live with her in less than six weeks, and bound twenty copies to give as Christmas presents to family and friends. In the following weeks, those twenty copies were shared and passed along from family to family, from friend to friend, and what began as a tale for two little girls became a message of miracles, hope, and healing for people throughout the world.

3
THE LOST WORLD
Michael Crichton
Cover of THE LOST WORLD

THE LOST WORLD

by Michael Crichton · Knopf

13 wks on list

Jurassic Park, the primordial zoo has been closed and the dinosaurs it once housed have been destroyed. Now, six years later, there are rumors that some of them may have survived.

4
POLITICALLY CORRECT HOLIDAY STORIES
James Finn Garner
Cover of POLITICALLY CORRECT HOLIDAY STORIES

POLITICALLY CORRECT HOLIDAY STORIES

by James Finn Garner · Macmillan

11 wks on list

Retells traditional holiday tales from a politically correct point of view, eliminating gender and social biases.

7
NEW
THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF VIRTUES
William J. Bennett
Cover of THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF VIRTUES

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF VIRTUES

by William J. Bennett · Simon & Schuster

The perfect companion to William J. Bennett's bestseller The Book of Virtues, The Children's Book of Virtues is the ideal storybook for parents and children to enjoy together. With selections from The Book of Virtues, from Aesop and Robert Frost to George Washington's life as well as Native American and African folklore, The Children's Book of Virtues brings together timeless stories and poems from around the world. The stories have been chosen especially for a young audience to help parents introduce to their children the essentials of good character: courage, perseverance, responsibility, work, self-discipline, compassion, faith, honesty, loyalty, and friendship. Lavishly illustrated by the well-known artist Michael Hague, these wonderful stories and the virtues they illustrate come to life on these pages. The Children's Book of Virtues is an enduring treasury of literature and art that will help lead young minds toward what is noble and gentle and fine.

8
THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES
Amy Tan
Cover of THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES

THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES

by Amy Tan · Putnam

9 wks on list

The "wisest and most captivating novel" (Boston Globe) from the author of the bestselling The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles Set in San Francisco and in a remote village of Southwestern China, Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses is a tale of American assumptions shaken by Chinese ghosts and broadened with hope. In 1962, five-year-old Olivia meets the half-sister she never knew existed, eighteen-year-old Kwan from China, who sees ghosts with her "yin eyes." Decades later, Olivia describes her complicated relationship with her sister and her failing marriage, as Kwan reveals her story, sweeping the reader into the splendor and violence of mid-nineteenth century China. With her characteristic wisdom, grace, and humor, Tan conjures up a story of the inheritance of love, its secrets and senses, its illusions and truths.

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THE FINAL JUDGMENT
Richard North Patterson
Cover of THE FINAL JUDGMENT

THE FINAL JUDGMENT

by Richard North Patterson · Knopf

3 wks on list

The bestselling novel by one of today's great authors of legal thrillers, Richard North Patterson's The Final Judgment. A young man has been murdered. His girlfriend, twenty-two-year-old Brett Allen, is found at the scene of the crime. She claims she is innocent—even though she's dripping in blood, the murder weapon covered with her fingerprints. Enter attorney Caroline Masters, Brett's estranged aunt. She's been summoned back to her affluent New England hometown to help Brett out of this mess...and revisit the troubled family she left behind. Caroline learned a long time ago that the ties that bind can also be broken. Now that she's back home, she can't help but doubt her family's motives—and Brett's innocence. As the trial heats up, Caroline finds herself up against those who would kill to keep dark secrets hidden...and the state prosecutor, who happens to be her former lover and will do anything to expose the truth. Now, with her family's fate—and her own reputation—hanging in the balance, Caroline must assume the role of a lifetime as she fights to save her niece. Or destroy them both... "Compelling...very possibly Patterson's best." -USA Today

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