TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of May 26, 1996

FictionNonfiction
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1
HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK
Terry McMillan
Cover of HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK

HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK

by Terry McMillan · Viking Press

2 wks at #1 · 2 on list

How Stella Got Her Groove Back is full of Terry McMillan's signature humor, heart, and insight. More than a love story, it is ultimately a novel about how a woman saves her own life—and what she must risk to do it. Stella Payne is forty-two, divorced, a high-powered investment analyst, mother of eleven-year-old Quincy- and she does it all. In fact, if she doesn't do it, it doesn't get done, from Little League carpool duty to analyzing portfolios to folding the laundry and bringing home the bacon. She does it all well, too, if her chic house, personal trainer, BMW, and her loving son are any indication. So what if there's been no one to share her bed with lately, let alone rock her world? Stella doesn't mind it too much; she probably wouldn't have the energy for love—and all of love's nasty fallout—anyway. But when Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Jamaica, her world gets rocked to the core—not just by the relaxing effects of the sun and sea and an island full of attractive men, but by one man in particular. He's tall, lean, soft-spoken, Jamaican, smells of citrus and the ocean—and is half her age. The tropics have cast their spell and Stella soon realizes she has come to a cataclysmic juncture: not only must she confront her hopes and fears about love, she must question all of her expectations, passions, and ideas about life and the way she has lived it.

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MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU
Mary Higgins Clark
Cover of MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU

MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU

by Mary Higgins Clark · Simon & Schuster

6 wks on list

From Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark, a thriller “that grabs you with the first paragraph and never let’s go” (USA TODAY) about a woman desperate to uncover the truth behind her beloved stepmother’s death. At a party in Manhattan, Maggie Holloway—one of the fashion world’s most successful photographers—is thrilled to be reunited with her beloved stepmother. A widow now, Nuala Moore is equally delighted to see her long-lost stepdaughter, and she invites Maggie to spend a few weeks at her home in Newport, Rhode Island. But when Maggie arrives, she finds Nuala murdered, apparently by a burglar. Heartbroken, Maggie is stunned to learn she had inherited Nuala’s stunning Victorian home...and horrified when she begins to suspect that Nuala’s death was not random but part of a diabolical plot conceived by a twisted mind. When Nuala’s dear old friend, Greta Shipley, dies suddenly of supposedly natural causes, Maggie is convinced that there is a link between these two and other recent deaths among the older women of Newport. What she doesn’t realize is that she has now become a target for the killer as well, and that each clue she uncovers brings her closer to an unimaginable fate.

3
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THE TENTH INSIGHT
James Redfield
Cover of THE TENTH INSIGHT

THE TENTH INSIGHT

by James Redfield · Warner

3 wks on list

The author continues his journey to a new spiritual awakening, trying to find the tenth insight which tells of his inborn guiding purpose in life.

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TIMEPIECE
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of TIMEPIECE

TIMEPIECE

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

4 wks on list

In the Christmas Box a loving widow named Mary Anne taught us that the time spent with loved ones is precious and brief. Timepiece is the story of how she learned those lessons.

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I WAS AMELIA EARHART
Jane Mendelsohn

I WAS AMELIA EARHART

by Jane Mendelsohn · Knopf

3 wks on list

This is the story of what happened to me when I died. It's also the story of my life. Destiny, the alchemy of fate and luck. I think about it sometimes, under a radiant sun ...

8
NEW
SUDDEN PREY
John Sandford
Cover of SUDDEN PREY

SUDDEN PREY

by John Sandford · Putnam

1 wks on list
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PRIMARY COLORS
Anonymous
Cover of PRIMARY COLORS
10
2
NEANDERTHAL
John Darnton
Cover of NEANDERTHAL

NEANDERTHAL

by John Darnton · Random House

4 wks on list

The author's first novel is a rollicking adventure yarn set in the high Himalayas where a surviving race of Neanderthals has been discovered. These hominids have the uncanny facility for remote viewing making them very desirable to the secret services of both East and West.

12
HER OWN RULES
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Cover of HER OWN RULES

HER OWN RULES

by Barbara Taylor Bradford · HarperCollins

2 wks on list

Meredith Stratton, at forty-four the owner of six elegant international inns, is about to celebrate her daughter's engagement. She begins to suffer from a strange illness and with the help of a psychiatrist traces back her roots to another country and her childhood.

13
ABSOLUTE POWER
David Baldacci
Cover of ABSOLUTE POWER

ABSOLUTE POWER

by David Baldacci · Warner

16 wks on list

'Accomplished and amazing - one of the hottest reads around' DAILY MAIL Set in Washington D.C., this fascinating thriller of unparalleled suspense dares to explore an unthinkable abuse of power and criminal conspiracy: a vicious murder involving the US President and a cover-up orchestrared by his zealously loyal Chief of Staff and the Secret Service. But, unknown to the President and his lackeys, one unlikely witness saw everything.Trapped behind a two-way mirror in a country house in Maryland, Luther Whitney, a professional burglar, witnesses an event that destroys his faith in justice. By the time he escapes, pursued by two Secret Service agents, a young woman has been sexually assaulted, then shot dead. And a breathtaking cover-up has been set in motion. 'Baldacci's prose is fluent and amazing . . . this book is sure to make a killing' THE TIMES 'A high-octane legal thriller. An almost Shakespearian study in the nature of evil - horror in its purest form' SPECTATOR

15
NEW
SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
Steve Perry
Cover of SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE

SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE

by Steve Perry · Spectra/Bantam

Darth Vader joins forces with a reptilian criminal underlord, Xizor, to do battle with familiar heroes and heroines from the Star Wars saga.

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