TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of February 8, 1998

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
PARADISE
Toni Morrison
Cover of PARADISE

PARADISE

by Toni Morrison · Knopf

3 wks at #1 · 3 on list
2
COLD MOUNTAIN
Charles Frazier
Cover of COLD MOUNTAIN

COLD MOUNTAIN

by Charles Frazier · Atlantic Monthly Press

31 wks 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?

3
FEAR NOTHING
Dean Koontz
Cover of FEAR NOTHING

FEAR NOTHING

by Dean Koontz · Bantam

2 wks on list

I have been one acquainted with the night. Christopher Snow is athletic, handsome enough, intelligent, romantic, funny. But his whole life has been affected by xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic disorder that means his skin and eyes cannot be exposed to sunlight. Like all Xpers, Chris lives at night - and has never ventured beyond his hometown of Moonlight Bay, a place of picturesque beauty and haunting strangeness; he knows it as no one else can possibly know it, is intimate with its shadows and darkest hours. Despite the limitations imposed by nature, he has always been determined to lead the fullest life and, with the help of family and friends, he has on the whole succeeded. But for Chris - and all the inhabitants of Moonlight Bay - a terrible change is about to happen; a change of potentially catastrophic proportions.

4
1
A CERTAIN JUSTICE
P. D. James
Cover of A CERTAIN JUSTICE
5
1
THE WINNER
David Baldacci
Cover of THE WINNER

THE WINNER

by David Baldacci · Warner

8 wks on list

A rags-to-riches deal for single mother LuAnn Tyler is deadlier than she ever could have imagined in The Winner, David Baldacci's pulse-pounding third novel. A New York Times bestseller, it cemented Baldacci as a worldwide bestselling author of non-stop action fiction. With an exclusive new introduction from the author. 'Baldacci is the master' – Jeffrey Archer It's a deadly game . . . LuAnn Tyler is a single parent striving to escape a life of endless poverty. Then a mysterious Mr Jackson makes her an offer he thinks no one can refuse: a guarantee to be the winner of the $100 million lottery. But LuAnn won't do it. Less than twenty-four hours later, she is fighting for her life and running from a false murder charge. Jackson's offer – and its condition that she leave the country forever – seems her only hope. Ten years later, LuAnn secretly returns to the United States to begin a new life with Matthew Riggs, a man whose origins are as murky as her own. But a canny reporter has picked up her trail, as have the FBI – and Jackson. Matt Riggs is the only person who can help her. But is help what Matt intends or is he too closing in for the kill? Perfect for fans of the Atlee Pine and Travis Devine series, The Winner is a novel brimming with suspense-filled roller-coaster action from internationally bestselling author David Baldacci. KILLER TWISTS. HEROES TO BELIEVE IN. TRUST BALDACCI. 'One of the world's thriller masters' – Daily Mail 'Baldacci is still peerless' – Sunday Times 'One of the all-time best thriller authors' – Lisa Gardner, bestselling author of One Step Too Far 'Baldacci delivers, every time!' – Lisa Scottoline, bestselling author of What Happened to the Bennetts 'A master storyteller' – Associated Press 'Baldacci cuts everyone's grass – Grisham's, Ludlum's, even Patricia Cornwell's – and more than gets away with it' – People

7
4
THE INVESTIGATORS
W. E. B. Griffin
Cover of THE INVESTIGATORS

THE INVESTIGATORS

by W. E. B. Griffin · Putnam

2 wks on list

A brutal crime...A group of urban terrorists...An investigation of dirty cops...The leads in these supposedly unconnected cases have become tangled in some very ugly--and dangerous--knots. Now Special Operations detective Matt Payne and his colleagues find themselves fearing not only for their jobs, but also for their very lives...

8
1
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Arthur Golden
9
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
Arundhati Roy
Cover of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

by Arundhati Roy · Random House

26 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.

11
3
THE GHOST
Danielle Steel
Cover of THE GHOST

THE GHOST

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

12 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.

12
SHARP EDGES
Jayne Ann Krentz
Cover of SHARP EDGES

SHARP EDGES

by Jayne Ann Krentz · Pocket

2 wks on list

Love’s passionate snags get the smooth touch in this sparkling masterpiece from Jayne Ann Krentz! She put her art on the line—and her heart in his hands... Eugenia Swift is a young woman of singular sensibilities, and a connoisseur of beauty. As director of the Leabrook Glass Museum, she’s been asked to travel to Frog Cove Island—an artistic haven near Seattle—to catalog an important collection of art glass. But thanks to unsavory rumors surrounding the collector’s death, the museum insists that Eugenia take along Cyrus Chandler Colfax—a rough-hewn private investigator whose taste in glass runs to ice-cold bottles filled with beer. When Colfax declares they must pose as a couple, Eugenia protests in a manner as loud as his Hawaiian shirts. But now their very lives depend on the most artful collaboration they can imagine. For a killer is lurking among Frog Cove’s chic galleries, and if anyone sees through their marital masquerade, their own secret agendas—as well as their plans for survival—may be smashed to smithereens!

13
NEW
CUBA LIBRE
Elmore Leonard
Cover of CUBA LIBRE

CUBA LIBRE

by Elmore Leonard · Delacorte Press

1 wks on list

On the page and on the screen, Elmore Leonard is hotter than ever. Set in Cuba at the time of the Spanish-American War, this tale of high adventure, history, romance, and of course, nefarious undertakings, will dazzle old fans and win legions of new ones. The story of one man's crooked attempt to return to the straight and narrow, Cuba Libre features a cast of Elmore Leonard's most colorful characters to date riding a trail of action and suspense riddled with twists and turns right up to the very last page.

14
1
THE LETTER
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of THE LETTER

THE LETTER

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

15 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.

15
NEW
THE MASTERHARPER OF PERN
Anne McCaffrey
Cover of THE MASTERHARPER OF PERN

THE MASTERHARPER OF PERN

by Anne McCaffrey · Del Rey/Ballantine

Let Anne McCaffrey, storyteller extraordinare and New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, take you on a journey to a whole new world: Pern. A world of dragons and other worldly forces; a world of mighty power and ominous threat. If you like David Eddings, Brandon Sanderson and Douglas Adams, you will love this. 'Anne McCaffrey, one of the queens of science fiction, knows exactly how to give her public what it wants' -- THE TIMES 'Brilliantly conceived, written and researched' -- ***** Reader review 'Never fails to enthral me' -- ***** Reader review 'BRILLIANT. BRILLIANT. BRILLIANT' -- ***** Reader review 'LOVED THIS BOOK - JUST COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN' -- ***** Reader review ****************************************************************** MasterSinger Merelan and Harper Petiron were a brilliant and devoted couple. Merelan was the most outstanding soprano ever heard on Pern and was often the only one who could master Petiron's technically accomplished compositions. When, after a long and difficult birth, Robinton was born to them, it should have been the culmination of a unique partnership. But Petiron, almost from the first day, had no time for his son, refusing to see the incredible talent the boy possessed, ignoring his achievements and maintaining a strict and disapproving vigilance over him at all times. Carefully, secretly, the Harper Hall took over, training the greatest talent Pern had ever seen - a talent that was more than just musical - for Robinton was able to talk to the dragons of Pern. As constant sadness beset his personal life, so a startling career sent him like a meteor through the Holds and Weyrs of Pern until, as MasterHarper, he became part of the great plan to rescue Lessa from the brutal rule of Holder Fax - Lessa, who was to be the saviour of the dragons of Pern.

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