TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 21, 2024

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
Jump to
1
FOURTH WING
Rebecca Yarros
Cover of FOURTH WING

FOURTH WING

by Rebecca Yarros · Red Tower

22 wks at #1 · 35 on list

As war grows more deadly, Violet Sorrengail joins the elite Navarre: the dragon riders. But she'll need to keep her wits because once you enter the Basgiath War College, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

2
IRON FLAME
Rebecca Yarros
Cover of IRON FLAME

IRON FLAME

by Rebecca Yarros · Red Tower

9 wks on list

"Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College--Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet's already wondering how she'll get through. It's not just that it's grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it's designed to stretch the riders' capacity for pain beyond endurance. It's the new vice commandant, who's made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is-unless she betrays the man she loves. Although Violet's body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else's, she still has her wits--and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules. But a determination to survive won't be enough this year. Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College--and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end." --

3
THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE
James McBride
Cover of THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE

by James McBride · Riverhead

20 wks on list

WATERSTONES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2024 THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER BARACK OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK AMAZON.COM NO.1 BOOK OF THE YEAR 'I loved this book' BONNIE GARMUS 'A generous, compassionate book about the power of love and community' LOUISE KENNEDY 'I can't recommend this one highly enough ' HARLAN COBEN 'THIS is his best book' ANN PATCHETT In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where Jewish immigrants and African Americans lived side by side through the 1920s and '30s. In this novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them, James McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community - heaven and earth - that sustain us.

4
9
REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES
Shelby Van Pelt
Cover of REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES

by Shelby Van Pelt · Ecco

32 wks on list

"For fans of A Man Called Ove, a ... debut novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium--and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance 30 years ago"--

5
NEW
FIRST LIE WINS
Ashley Elston
Cover of FIRST LIE WINS

FIRST LIE WINS

by Ashley Elston · Pamela Dorman

1 wks on list

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn't exist. The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she's given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. Evie isn't privy to Mr. Smith's real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she's starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can't make any mistakes--especially after what happened last time. Because the one thing she's worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to-her real identity-just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there's still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn't be higher--but then, Evie has always liked a challenge...

8
3
THE EXCHANGE
John Grisham
9
NEW
DEMON COPPERHEAD
Barbara Kingsolver
Cover of DEMON COPPERHEAD

DEMON COPPERHEAD

by Barbara Kingsolver · Harper

WINNER OF THE 2023 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION A New York Times "Ten Best Books of 2022 * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post Bestseller "Demon is a voice for the ages--akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield--only even more resilient." --Beth Macy, author of Dopesick "May be the best novel of 2022. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love." (Ron Charles, Washington Post) From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.

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