BOOKSELLERS’ CHOICE
Booksellers’ bestsellers
Our panel reveal the titles they expect to see in the bestseller charts this
season, from historical fiction to a walk on the Wild side
MATT BATES
Books buyer, W H
Smith Travel
The Scandal of
the Season
Sophie Gee
Random House,
3rd July, £7.99,
9780099507291
Published
to great reviews last year, this is a
brilliantly realised re-creation of the
affair between Arabella Fermor,
belle of London society in the
early 1700s, and nobleman Robert
Petre. Gee has breathed life into
her heroine whose risk and daring
in pursuit of a suitably rich husband
became the inspiration for Alexander
Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. Elegant
and witty, with a touch of Dangerous
Liaisons and the literary aplomb of
Samuel Richardson, this romp of a
novel is a real delight.
Die A Little
Megan Abbott
Simon & Schuster, 4th August, £6.99,
9781847393463
A sparkling little novel evoking the
seedier side of 1950s Hollywood.
When her brother marries
enigmatic femme fatale Alice, Lora
has her suspicions but keeps them
to herself to protect his happiness.
Only when some inconsistencies
in Alice’s background begin to
appear does Lora start to scratch
beneath the surface to uncover
a steamy world of drugs and
prostitution. Abbott conjures up
the age brilliantly, especially in the
dialogue, and the jacket is a real
retro treat that will stand out on the
shelves.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson
Quercus, 7th August, £7.99, 9781847245458
This has been a massive success
across Europe already and finally
comes to the UK in paperback. It’s
a really menacing and intelligent
thriller focusing on a series of
grisly murders from the past which
threaten to uncover a crime from
the present. The quirky pairing of
Mikael and Lisbeth who investigate
the crime adds greatly to the novel’s
depth, balancing the gruesome
aspects with a light, comedic touch.
As this is the first of a trilogy it will
be interesting to see how their
partnership develops.
Titles
forthcoming from
Simon & Schuster,
Penguin, Granta
and Bloomsbury
A Prisoner of Birth
Jeffrey Archer
Macmillan, 5th September, £7.99,
9780330464062
If an author has a single duty to the
reader then offering a guaranteed
page-turner must come high on the
list. Archer certainly gives this to his
readers, including tight plots, strong
narrative drive, great tension and
a satisfying conclusion. His latest
novel about a man who has been
framed for murder and must begin
a long and troubled fight for his
freedom doesn’t disappoint. With its
vivid descriptions of life on the inside
and nail-biting courtroom drama
scenes, this is Archer at his peak.
Mister B Gone
Clive Barker
HarperCollins, 1st October, £7.99, 9780007276288
Clive Barker is the master of his
genre and this is another shining
example of his talent for getting
beneath his reader’s skin. The 14thcentury
demon who narrates the
story both repels and seduces the
reader as every turn of the page
promises damnation. From such a
dark imagination as Barker’s one can
never be quite sure where you’ll be
taken until the last chilling word.
Sanctuary
Nora Roberts
Little, Brown, 2nd October, £6.99, 9780749938246
Multi-million-selling US author Nora
Roberts has achieved comparatively
modest sales in the UK but that is set
to change as Little, Brown undertake
a massive campaign including a
brand new cover style. In Sanctuary,
a young woman is drawn back to
her lonely childhood home after a
series of random events, but going
back stirs up old secrets and rivalries
and someone with more dangerous
motives is about to strike.
Revelation
C J Sansom
Macmillan, 7th November, £7.99, 9780330447102
C J Sansom is one of the greatest
fiction success stories of the past
few years and his success is well
deserved. He refreshingly brings
to life a Tudor England where the
monarch is on the periphery while
illuminating us on its more middleclass
citizens. He is brilliant at
transporting his readers right back
to the 1500s. The plot and characters
always come first so that the many
historical details neither diminish
6 The Bookseller Autumn Paperback Preview | 6 June 2008 www.thebookseller.com
nor overpower the core of the novel.
Set in 1543, this is the fourth in the
Shardrake series and concerns a
gruesome murder, insanity and
superstition against a background of
religious fervour and factions.
The Almost Moon
Alice Sebold
Picador, 3rd October, £7.99, 9780330451352
Following the worldwide
phenomenon The Lovely Bones was
never going to be easy but Sebold
has taken her time and produced
a novel of equal intensity. Once
again a death is at the axis as, in a
split-second subconscious moment,
Helen Knightly commits an act that
will revive the emotional journey of
her life thus far. Sebold is always in
command, effortlessly mixing raw
emotions with a touch of humour
and her tight, constrained prose
never feels laboured or heavy.
MIKE STONEHAM
Buyer, Gardners
Books
Robert
Macfarlane
Wild Places
Granta, 7th
July, £8.99,
9781847080189
Put away the
list of returns
you’ve been
working on, toss aside that latest
range of vampire romance fiction
you’ve been shown, put your feet up
and indulge in this wonderful book.
Macfarlane’s thoughtful musings
on Britain’s wildernesses and his
explorations thereof are simply
glorious. You may not be able to
visit them, or have any inclination to
camp out in the locations as he did,
but curl up in front of the fire on a
soggy Sunday afternoon and devour.
Stieg Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Quercus, 24th July, £7.99,
9781847245458
If Ron Beard from Quercus has your
name and number you’ll already
know about this book! A publishing
sensation in Scandanavia where it
outsold everything, this is the first
in a trilogy of thrillers from Larsson,
who sadly passed away shortly
after completing them. Featuring
investigative journalist Mikael
Blomqvist and the eponymous girl,
it starts slowly but soon becomes
utterly compelling. Violent, gritty
and rather memorable.
Belinda Starling
The Journal of Dora Damage
Bloomsbury, 4th August, £7.99, 9780747593256
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