TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 18, 2002

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THE LOVELY BONES
Alice Sebold
Cover of THE LOVELY BONES

THE LOVELY BONES

by Alice Sebold · Little, Brown

10 wks at #1 · 6 on list

Susie Salmon is just like any other young American girl. She wants to be beautiful, adores her charm bracelet and has a crush on a boy from school. There's one big difference though – Susie is dead. Add: Now she can only observe while her family manage their grief in their different ways. Susie is desperate to help them and there might be a way of reaching them... Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones is a unique coming-of-age tale that captured the hearts of readers throughout the world. Award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery has adapted it for this unforgettable play about life after loss.

3
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A LOVE OF MY OWN
E. Lynn Harris
Cover of A LOVE OF MY OWN

A LOVE OF MY OWN

by E. Lynn Harris · Doubleday

1 wks on list

Follows a group of characters as they try to find their places in the world when class issues and changes in economic status affect their family lives and friendships.

6
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

22 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.

8
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STONE KISS
Faye Kellerman
Cover of STONE KISS

STONE KISS

by Faye Kellerman · Warner

1 wks on list

Rina Lazarus has some shocking news for her husband, LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker. A horrible murder has occurred in the family. Thrust into a maze of deceit, lies, and danger, the couple can't trust anyone, and when salvation is within Decker's grasp, it can only be delivered by a depraved lone wolf, hell-bent on his own personal vengeance.

11
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HOT ICE
Nora Roberts
Cover of HOT ICE

HOT ICE

by Nora Roberts · Bantam

1 wks on list

Whitney McAllister teams up the professionsl thief, Doug Lord to find a treasure trove of jewels.

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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

8 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.

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HER FATHER'S HOUSE
Belva Plain

HER FATHER'S HOUSE

by Belva Plain · Delacorte Press

1 wks on list

Beloved storyteller Belva Plain understands the rich tapestry of the human heart like no other. Her many dazzling "New York Times" bestsellers probe the shifting bonds of marriage and family with insight, compassion, and uncommon grace. And her new novel is no exception. A tale of fathers and daughters, lovers and families, acts of love and acts of betrayal, Her Father's House is Belva Plain's most powerful and unforgettable novel yet. It is the spring of 1968 when Donald Wolfe, a young graduate of a midwestern law school, arrives in New York. Filled with ambition and idealism, he is dazzled not only by the big city but by the vivacious, restless Lillian, whom he marries in the heat of infatuation. Surely theirs is no marriage made in heaven, but they have a child, Tina, and she is the love of Donald's heart. For her he would give up everything--his home, his distinguished career, and his freedom. When his flawed marriage begins to fail, a choice must be made. Shall he consider a step that would force him into flight and a life of hiding? From her earliest years, Tina is exceptional, a brilliant student and a joyous, loving spirit. At the university she falls in love with Gilbert, who graduates from law school just as she is about to enter medical school. Together they go to New York, where she learns the truth about her family's past, a truth that must change her regard for the father who has protected and cherished her. When a terrible lie has been told out of love, can it be forgiven? With courage and compassion, Belva Plain paints a moving portrait of the choices that shape the course of our lives, the secrets that haunt us, and the love that helps us heal and move on. It is a work of riveting storytelling and rare emotional power by one of the most gifted novelists of our time. "From the Hardcover edition."

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UNFIT TO PRACTICE
Perri O'Shaughnessy
Cover of UNFIT TO PRACTICE

UNFIT TO PRACTICE

by Perri O'Shaughnessy · Delacorte Press

It's the moment every attorney fears most...one careless moment that threatens careers, reputations, lives. For Nina Reilly, it will change everything--and ignite a case where her own clients are witnesses against her...and where the defendant is Nina herself. As an attorney championing desperate people, Nina Reilly has skirted the edges of legal ethics in pursuit of a just result, but she has never before broken the rule of absolute protection of her clients' secrets. One September night in Lake Tahoe when her unlocked truck is stolen, her life changes forever. Gone are her most sensitive case files, complete with the sometimes brutally candid notes she took while interviewing her clients. It's every attorney's nightmare. And now the worst has happened: The secrets are being revealed, one by one, in ways that will cause the greatest harm. Nina's own clients complain to the State Bar of California, and suddenly Nina is fighting for her license and her livelihood in a legal proceeding that may ultimately lead her to disbarment. In desperation, Nina turns to her ex-husband, celebrated San Francisco lawyer Jack McIntyre, to represent her. And as personal tensions erupt between McIntyre and Nina's sometime boyfriend, private investigator Paul van Wagoner...as reputations are ruined and people begin to die...a chilling pattern of rage and revenge comes into focus. Someone is bent on destroying the lives of Nina's clients and, in the process, Nina Reilly. From the Hardcover edition.

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