TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of June 30, 2002

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
Jump to
3
2
IN THIS MOUNTAIN
Jan Karon

IN THIS MOUNTAIN

by Jan Karon · Viking Press

3 wks on list

Mitford's village rector, Father Tim, is sixty-something, a lifelong bachelor, and running scared. He can no longer deny (even to himself), that he is in love with his neighbor, Cynthia Coppersmith.

5
4
THE SUMMONS
John Grisham
Cover of THE SUMMONS
6
2
THE NANNY DIARIES
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Cover of THE NANNY DIARIES

THE NANNY DIARIES

by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus · St. Martin's

15 wks on list

Written by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, The Nanny Diaries deftly punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class. Now a major motion picture starring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney. Wanted: One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply. Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the Xs' marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.

9
NEW
THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN'S PIER
Ann Packer
Cover of THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN'S PIER

THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN'S PIER

by Ann Packer · Knopf

1 wks on list

How much do we owe the people we love? Is it a sign of strength or weakness to walk away from someone in need? These questions lie at the heart of Ann Packer’s intimate and emotionally thrilling new novel, which has won its author comparisons with Jane Hamilton and Sue Miller. At the age of twenty-three Carrie Bell has spent her entire life in Wisconsin, with the same best friend and the same dependable, easygoing, high school sweetheart. Now to her dismay she has begun to find this life suffocating and is considering leaving it–and Mike–behind. But when Mike is paralyzed in a diving accident, leaving seems unforgivable and yet more necessary than ever. The Dive from Clausen’s Pier animates this dilemma–and Carrie’s startling response to it–with the narrative assurance, exacting realism, and moral complexity we expect from the very best fiction.

12
5
DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL
Mary Higgins Clark
Cover of DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL

DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL

by Mary Higgins Clark · Simon & Schuster

9 wks on list

From Mary Higgins Clark, America’s bestselling “Queen of Suspense,” comes a chilling story of murder that reaches the heights of suspense while exploring the depths of the criminal mind as one woman searches for the killer of her sister—and one man tries to prove his innocence. Ellie Cavanaugh was seven years old when her older sister was murdered near their home in New York’s Westchester County. It was young Ellie’s tearful testimony that put Rob Westerfield, the nineteen-year-old scion of a prominent family, in jail despite the existence of two other viable suspects. Twenty-two years later, Westerfield, who maintains his innocence, is paroled. Determined to thwart his attempts to pin the crime on another, Ellie, an investigative reporter for an Atlanta newspaper, returns home and starts writing a book that will conclusively prove Westerfield’s guilt. As she delves deeper into her research, however, she uncovers horrifying facts that shed new light on her sister’s murder. With each discovery she comes closer to a confrontation with a desperate killer.

13
NEW
DEADLY EMBRACE
Jackie Collins
Cover of DEADLY EMBRACE

DEADLY EMBRACE

by Jackie Collins · Simon & Schuster

1 wks on list

Celebrity magazine writer Madison Castelli digs into her mob hitman father's past in order to discover the truth about her mother's death and encounters a vortex of greed, lust, and deception that threatens her life.

14
3
A THOUSAND COUNTRY ROADS
Robert James Waller
Cover of A THOUSAND COUNTRY ROADS

A THOUSAND COUNTRY ROADS

by Robert James Waller · John M. Hardy

8 wks on list

A special edition, in slipcase, limited to 1500 copies, numbered and signed by the author.

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