TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of December 14, 1997

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
COLD MOUNTAIN
Charles Frazier
Cover of COLD MOUNTAIN

COLD MOUNTAIN

by Charles Frazier · Atlantic Monthly Press

18 wks at #1 · 23 on list

The impact of the Civil War on lovers. Inman is not the man he used to be, as wounded in battle he slowly makes his way home to North Carolina. His sweetheart, Ada, too has changed, no longer a flighty belle but a hard-working farm woman. Will love be the same?

2
THE GHOST
Danielle Steel
Cover of THE GHOST

THE GHOST

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

4 wks on list

After his ten year marriage comes to an abrupt end, Charlie Waterston finds solace traveling through New England and in the pages of the diary of a woman named Sarah who first came to American in 1789. Caught between Sarah's world and his own, Charlie finds the courage to let go of his past, and the freedom to grasp the future that is right before his eyes. National ads, including "People". Online promo (www.daniellesteel.com). Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

5
THE LETTER
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of THE LETTER

THE LETTER

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

7 wks on list

The love story of David and MaryAnne Parkin and the storms that their relationship must face when the blissful state of romance vanishes into real-life challenges and difficulties.

6
VIOLIN
Anne Rice
Cover of VIOLIN

VIOLIN

by Anne Rice · Knopf

7 wks on list

A woman from New Orleans steals a violin from a ghost and becomes the musician she always wanted, finding herself acclaimed on two continents. Part fantasy, part reality.

7
4
COMANCHE MOON
Larry McMurtry
Cover of COMANCHE MOON

COMANCHE MOON

by Larry McMurtry · Simon & Schuster

5 wks on list

Two Texas Rangers fight Indians and bandits while trying to sort affairs with their women. One is Gus McCrae, a hard-drinking womanizer jilted by his love, the other is sober Woodrow Call, father of a boy by a prostitute. By the author of Lonesome Dove.

9
1
LUCKY YOU
Carl Hiaasen
Cover of LUCKY YOU

LUCKY YOU

by Carl Hiaasen · Knopf

5 wks on list

JoLayne Luck enlists the help of investigative journalist Tom Krone to chase down Bodean Gazzer and his sidekick Chub, the two men who stole JoLayne's winning lottery ticket in order to set up their own underground militia group in Florida.

11
2
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
Arundhati Roy
Cover of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

by Arundhati Roy · Random House

18 wks on list

The story of an Indian family during the 1969 Communist disturbances in Kerala province. It is told through the eyes of a boy and his sister who are the children of a rich rubber planter. Politics, family drama, illicit love. A debut in fiction.

12
NEW
THE CHRISTMAS BOX
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of THE CHRISTMAS BOX

THE CHRISTMAS BOX

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

24 wks 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.

13
1
WOBEGON BOY
Garrison Keillor
Cover of WOBEGON BOY

WOBEGON BOY

by Garrison Keillor · Viking Press

3 wks on list

Garrison Keillor is the consummate storyteller, gifted with the rare ability--both in print and in performance--to hold an audience spellbound with his tales of ordinary people whose lives contain extraordinary moments of humor, tenderness, and grace. This exclusive recording of Garrison Keillor reading a carefully edited abridgement of the book and includes a few segments taken from live performances recorded during a fundraising tour for public radio stations in 1985. 1987 Grammy(R) Award winner Table of Contents Tape 1 Prologue; Home; Forbears; Sumus Quod Sumus; Protestant Tape 2 Protestant; Summer; School Tape 3 Fall; Winter Tape 4 Footnote (95 Theses 95); Spring; Revival

14
NEW
A CERTAIN JUSTICE
P. D. James
Cover of A CERTAIN JUSTICE

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