TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 12, 2001

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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2
CANE RIVER
Lalita Tademy

CANE RIVER

by Lalita Tademy · Warner

6 wks on list
4
1
ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS
E. Lynn Harris
Cover of ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS

ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS

by E. Lynn Harris · Doubleday

3 wks on list

When her wedding to John “Basil” Henderson didn’t come off as planned, Yancey Harrington Braxton flew off to L.A. and remade herself as mega-diva Yancey B. And Basil started concentrating on his career as a high-powered sports agent. But then Yancey’s first single, “Any Way the Wind Blows,” hit the charts, and now it threatens to blow Basil’s cover--if anyone learns who it’s really about. And it looks like the gorgeous (and ambitious) hunk Bart Dunbar might just have it all figured out.

5
1
OPEN SEASON
Linda Howard

OPEN SEASON

by Linda Howard · Pocket

2 wks on list
6
NEW
BLUE DIARY
Alice Hoffman
Cover of BLUE DIARY

BLUE DIARY

by Alice Hoffman · Putnam

1 wks on list

Alice Hoffman, the bestselling author of The Rules of Magic, asks how we can find the courage to face the unthinkable in this compelling New York Times Notable Book. When Ethan Ford fails to show up for work on a brilliant summer morning, none of his neighbors would guess that for more than thirteen years, he has been running from his past. His true nature has been locked away, as hidden as his real identity. But sometimes locks spring open, and the devastating truths of Ethan Ford's history shatter the small-town peace of Monroe, affecting family and friends alike. Now, the police are at the door. Ethan Ford's life as an irreproachable family man and heroic volunteer fireman has come to an end—and Jorie Ford's life is coming apart. Some of the residents of Monroe are rallying behind Ethan. But others, including his wife and son, and wondering what remains true when so much is shown to be false—and how capable we really are of change.

9
1
THE JURY
Steve Martini
Cover of THE JURY

THE JURY

by Steve Martini · Putnam

5 wks on list

Paul Madriani has ample reason to suspect he's representing a guilty man. Dr. David Crone, a respected medical researcher and principal in mapping the human genome, is charged with the murder of a young colleague: twenty-six-year-old Kalista Jordan, an African-American research physician whose body washed up on a beach in San Diego Bay. Forensic evidence links her murder with material in Crone's garage. Crone had both opportunity and motive: Kalista had recently ended their affair, and may have been deserting him professionally as well, moving on to a rival genetic research facility. However, when a key witness for the prosecution dies unexpectedly, leaving an incriminating note behind, Crone's innocence seems confirmed-until Madriani hits upon a potentially damning loose end.

12
2
SEVEN UP
Janet Evanovich
Cover of SEVEN UP
13
FATAL VOYAGE
Kathy Reichs
Cover of FATAL VOYAGE

FATAL VOYAGE

by Kathy Reichs · Scribner

2 wks on list

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs takes forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan behind the scenes of a major commercial airliner crash in this pulse-pounding thriller. Temperance Brennan hears the news on her car radio: an Air TransSouth flight has gone down in the mountains of western North Carolina, taking with it eighty-eight passengers and crew. As a forensic anthropologist and a member of the regional DMORT team, Tempe rushes to the scene to assist in body recovery and identification. Tempe has seen death many times, working with the medical examiners in North Carolina and Montreal, but never has tragedy struck with such devastation. She finds a field of carnage. Many of the dead are members of a university soccer team. Is Tempe’s daughter, Katy, among them? Frantic with worry, Tempe joins colleagues from the FBI, the NTSB, and other agencies to search for explanations. Was the plane brought down by a bomb, an insurance plot, a political assassination, or simple mechanical failure? And what about the prisoner on the plane who was being extradited to Canada? Did someone want him silenced forever? Even more puzzling for Tempe is a disembodied foot found near the debris field. Tempe’s microscopic analysis suggests it could not have belonged to any passenger. Whose foot is it, and where is the rest of the body? And what about the disturbing evidence Tempe discovers in the soil outside a remote mountain enclave? What secrets lie hidden there, and why are certain people eager to stop Tempe’s investigation? Is she learning too much? Coming too close? With help from Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, who has his own sad reason for being at the crash, and from a very special dog named Boyd, Tempe calls upon deep reserves of courage and upon her forensic skill to uncover a shocking, multilayered tale of deceit and depravity.

14
2
RISE TO REBELLION
Jeff Shaara
Cover of RISE TO REBELLION

RISE TO REBELLION

by Jeff Shaara · Ballantine

4 wks on list

Jeff Shaara dazzled readers with his bestselling novels Gods and Generals, The Last Full Measure, and Gone for Soldiers. Now the acclaimed author who illuminated the Civil War and the Mexican-American War brilliantly brings to life the American Revolution, creating a superb saga of the men who helped to forge the destiny of a nation. In 1770, the fuse of revolution is lit by a fateful command "Fire!" as England's peacekeeping mission ignites into the Boston Massacre. The senseless killing of civilians leads to a tumultuous trial in which lawyer John Adams must defend the very enemy who has assaulted and abused the laws he holds sacred. The taut courtroom drama soon broadens into a stunning epic of war as King George III leads a reckless and corrupt government in London toward the escalating abuse of his colonies. Outraged by the increasing loss of their liberties, an extraordinary gathering of America's most inspiring characters confronts the British presence with the ideals that will change history. John Adams, the idealistic attorney devoted to the law, who rises to greatness by the power of his words . . . Ben Franklin, one of the most celebrated men of his time, the elderly and audacious inventor and philosopher who endures firsthand the hostile prejudice of the British government . . . Thomas Gage, the British general given the impossible task of crushing a colonial rebellion without starting an all-out war . . . George Washington, the dashing Virginian whose battle experience in the French and Indian War brings him the recognition that elevates him to command of a colonial army . . . and many other immortal names from the Founding Family of the colonial struggle - Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams, Richard Henry Lee - captured as never before in their full flesh-and-blood humanity. More than a powerful portrait of the people and purpose of the revolution, Rise to Rebellion is a vivid account of history's most pivotal events. The Boston Tea Party, the battles of Concord and Bunker Hill: all are recreated with the kind of breathtaking detail only a master like Jeff Shaara can muster. His most impressive achievement, Rise to Rebellion reveals with new immediacy how philosophers became fighters, ideas their ammunition, and how a scattered group of colonies became the United States of America.

15
NEW
BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS
Anne Tyler
Cover of BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS

BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS

by Anne Tyler · Knopf

"Rebecca Davitch is a fifty-three-year-old grandmother. On the surface, Beck, as she is known to the Davitch clan, is outgoing, joyous, a natural celebrator. Giving parties, is after all, her vocation, something she slipped into even before finishing college, when Joe Davitch spotted her at an engagement party in his family's crumbling nineteenth-century Baltimore row house, where giving parties was the family business. Now, some thirty years later, after presiding over a disastrous family picnic, Rebecca is caught unawares by the question of who she really is."--Jacket.

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