TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 18, 2009

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AN ECHO IN THE BONE
Diana Gabaldon
Cover of AN ECHO IN THE BONE

AN ECHO IN THE BONE

by Diana Gabaldon · Delacorte Press

2 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The seventh book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series. “All you’ve come to expect from Gabaldon . . . adventure, history, romance, fantasy.”—The Arizona Republic Jamie Fraser, former Jacobite and reluctant rebel, is already certain of three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, fighting on the side of victory is no guarantee of survival, and he’d rather die than have to face his illegitimate son—a young lieutenant in the British army—across the barrel of a gun. Claire Randall knows that the Americans will win, too, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won’t include Jamie’s life or his happiness, though—not if she has anything to say about it. Meanwhile, in the relative safety of the twentieth century, Jamie and Claire’s daughter, Brianna, and her husband, Roger MacKenzie, have resettled in a historic Scottish home where, across a chasm of two centuries, the unfolding drama of Brianna’s parents’ story comes to life through Claire’s letters. The fragile pages reveal Claire’s love for battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and their flight from North Carolina to the high seas, where they encounter privateers and ocean battles—as Brianna and Roger search for clues not only to Claire’s fate but to their own. Because the future of the MacKenzie family in the Highlands is mysteriously, irrevocably, and intimately entwined with life and death in war-torn colonial America.

6
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HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY
Audrey Niffenegger
Cover of HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY

HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY

by Audrey Niffenegger · Scribner

1 wks on list

The follow-up to her hit debut The Time Traveler?s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger?s Her Fearful Symmetry is a haunting tale of secrets and sisterhood. After their English aunt dies, listless American twins Julia and Valentina travel to London to live in their aunt?s now empty flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery. There they become embroiled in the day-to-day sagas of their eccentric neighbors. But soon they discover that something is alive in Highgate?something unable to move on.

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THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS
Debbie Macomber
Cover of THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS

by Debbie Macomber · Mira

1 wks on list

What would make your Christmas perfect? For Cassie Beaumont, it's meeting her perfect match. Cassie, at thirty-three, wants a husband and kids, and so far, nothing's worked. Not blind dates, not the Internet and certainly not leaving love to chance. What's left? A professional matchmaker. He's Simon Dodson, and he's very choosy about the clients he takes on. Cassie finds Simon a di[fb03] cult, acerbic know-it-all, and she's astonished when he accepts her as a client. Claiming he has her perfect mate in mind, Simon assigns her three tasks to complete before she meets him. Three tasks that are all about Christmas: being a charity bell ringer, dressing up as Santa's elf at a children's party and preparing a traditional turkey dinner for her neighbors (whom she happens to dislike). Despite a number of comical mishaps, Cassie does it all—and she's finally ready to meet her match. But just like the perfect Christmas gift, he turns out to be a wonderful surprise!

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SOUTH OF BROAD
Pat Conroy
Cover of SOUTH OF BROAD

SOUTH OF BROAD

by Pat Conroy · Nan A. Talese/Doubleday

8 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A big sweeping novel of friendship and marriage” (The Washington Post) by the celebrated author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini Leopold Bloom King has been raised in a family shattered—and shadowed—by tragedy. Lonely and adrift, he searches for something to sustain him and finds it among a tightly knit group of outsiders. Surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, as well as Charleston, South Carolina’s dark legacy of racism and class divisions, these friends will endure until a final test forces them to face something none of them are prepared for. Spanning two turbulent decades, South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest: a masterpiece from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds. Praise for South of Broad “Vintage Pat Conroy . . . a big sweeping novel of friendship and marriage.”—The Washington Post “Conroy remains a magician of the page.”—The New York Times Book Review “Richly imagined . . . These characters are gallant in the grand old-fashioned sense, devoted to one another and to home. That siren song of place has never sounded so sweet.”—New Orleans Times-Picayune “A lavish, no-holds-barred performance.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “A lovely, often thrilling story.”—The Dallas Morning News “A pleasure to read . . . a must for Conroy’s fans.”—Associated Press

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JULIET, NAKED
Nick Hornby
Cover of JULIET, NAKED

JULIET, NAKED

by Nick Hornby · Riverhead

1 wks on list

Rockstar Tucker Crowe, Jahrgang 1953, der in den 80er-Jahren Triumphe feierte, lebt heute völlig zurückgezogen in einer amerikanischen Kleinstadt und kann kaum glauben, was er im Internet alles über sich lesen muss. Doch Annies Kritik seines neuen Albums lässt ihn aufhorchen, er nimmt Kontakt mit Annie auf...

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FROSTBITTEN
Kelley Armstrong
Cover of FROSTBITTEN

FROSTBITTEN

by Kelley Armstrong · Bantam

1 wks on list

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns with the tenth installment of the Women of the Otherworld series. The Alaskan wilderness is a harsh landscape in the best of conditions, but with a pack of rogue werewolves on the loose, it’s downright deadly. Elena Michaels, the Pack’s chief enforcer, knows all too well the havoc “mutts” can wreak. When they hear of a series of gruesome maulings and murders outside Anchorage, she and her husband, Clay, journey to Alaska in the dead of winter in order to hunt down the dangerous werewolves. Trapped in this savage, untamed winter realm, she and Clay learn more about their own werewolf heritage than they bargained for, tapping a little more into the wild nature of the beast within. With Elena back in the starring role, this is the book Kelley Armstrong fans have been waiting for.

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DEAD AND GONE
Charlaine Harris
Cover of DEAD AND GONE

DEAD AND GONE

by Charlaine Harris · Ace

22 wks on list

Now it's the turn of the weres and shifters to follow the lead of the undead and reveal their existence to the ordinary world. Sookie Stackhouse already knows about them, of course - her brother turns into a panther at the full moon, she's friend to the local Were pack and Sam, her boss at Merlotte's bar, is a shifter. At first the great Were revelation seems to go well - then the horribly mutilated body of a were-panther is found outside Merlotte's. Though Sookie never cared that much for the victim, no one deserves such a horrible death, so she agrees to use her telepathic talent to track down the murderer. But what Sookie doesn't realise is that there is a far greater danger than this killer threatening Bon Temps: a race of unhuman beings, older, more powerful and far more secretive than the vampires or the werewolves is preparing for war ...

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SPARTAN GOLD
Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood
Cover of SPARTAN GOLD

SPARTAN GOLD

by Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood · Putnam

5 wks on list

After discovering a U-boat in a Delaware swamp containing a map to Napoleon's "lost cellar," the Fargo brothers race to find the treasure before a rival collector can, in this new-series debut from the best-selling author.

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THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Margaret Atwood
Cover of THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD

THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD

by Margaret Atwood · Nan A. Talese/Doubleday

2 wks on list

The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power. The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners?a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life?has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible. Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers . . .Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo'hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue. As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can't stay locked away . . .By turns dark, tender, violent.

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