The Girl with the Seven-Figure Advance
Emma Cline’s debut novel, The Girls, follows a 14-year-old who joins a Manson Family–like cult in 1969. The book is proving seductive to readers, who propelled the title to #5 on our Hardcover Fiction list this week. Cline’s novel was drawing attention long before publication, when news broke of her big-dollar acquisition. And she’s not the only high-profile, high-ticket literary debut this summer: Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi is at #16 in its second week on our list, and Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, in its fourth week, is at #19. Here’s a look at debut-week print-unit sales for each.
The Girls | Emma Cline | 19.6K |
Homegoing | Yaa Gyasi | 5,488 |
Sweetbitter | Stephanie Danler | 4,052 |
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
Hamilton: The Juggernaut
To the surprise of no one, the musical Hamilton dominated the Tony Awards on June 12. The following week, associated books—already doing blockbuster sales—grew their treasuries even more. The 2005 paperback edition of the book that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, is up 137% over last week, making it the #5 book in the country overall; with almost 27K print units sold, it enjoyed its best week since its release. And Hamilton: The Revolution, a behind-the-scenes look at the musical, by Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, is up 69% this week, and once again at #2 in Hardcover Nonfiction.
Hop on Books for Pop
Mighty Dads, a new board book edition of the 2014 picture book by Joan Holub, illustrated by James Dean, debuts on our picture book list at #21. Father’s Day also boosted several older dad- and granddad-centric titles. Here’s a look at week over week increases for three of the biggest movers and shakers on our picture book list, and where they charted.
#2: Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada | Jimmy Fallon and Miguel Ordóñez | up 46% |
#3: Just Me and My Dad | Mercer Mayer | up 120% |
#7: How to Babysit a Grandpa | Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish | up 100% |
Bay of Sighs
Nora Roberts
#1 Trade Paperback, #1 overall
This trade paper original is second in the Guardians trilogy, which began with November 2015’s Stars of Fortune and concludes in December, with Island of Glass.
Barkskins
Annie Proulx
#11 Hardcover Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner returns with her first novel in 14 years, a centuries-spanning epic that begins with the hardships faced by a pair of woodcutters in late 17th-century New France.
Outlander Kitchen
Theresa Carle-Sanders
#20 Hardcover Nonfiction
Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s time-traveling, kilt-ripping series will do the Highland fling for recipes such as Auld Ian’s Buttered Leeks and Banoffee Trifle at River Run.
Top 10 Overall
Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bay of Sighs | Nora Roberts | Berkley | 50,984 |
2 | End of Watch | Stephen King | Scribner | 46,762 |
3 | Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies: The Patriots | David Fisher | Holt | 45,258 |
4 | Me Before You (mass market movie tie-in) | Jojo Moyes | Penguin | 27,721 |
5 | Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow | Penguin | 26,897 |
6 | Me Before You (trade paper movie tie-in) | Jojo Moyes | Penguin | 26,827 |
7 | Tom Clancy: Duty and Honor | Grant Blackwood | Putnam | 24,513 |
8 | Foreign Agent | Brad Thor | Atria | 22,669 |
9 | Here’s to Us | Elin Hilderbrand | Little, Brown | 21,277 |
10 | Cross Kill | James Patterson | BookShots | 21,212 |
All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.