Fit for a Duchess
In the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, which killed 72 people and injured many others, a group of women from the community gathered at a local Muslim cultural center to prepare meals for their families and neighbors. As word spread, more women joined in, and in January, Meghan Markle, then engaged to Prince William, made her first of several visits.
On September 17, Kensington Palace announced that Markle, now Duchess of Sussex, was supporting a fund-raising cookbook featuring recipes by the women of what’s become known as Hubb Community Kitchen. The book, Together, pubbed a week later, and debuts at #7 in hardcover nonfiction.
(See all of this week's bestselling books.)
A Stealthy Climb
Kate Atkinson won the Costa novel award in her native U.K. for her most recent books, 2013’s Life After Life and 2015’s A God in Ruins. Her latest, Transcription, “is enlivened by its heroine’s witty, sardonic voice,” our review said, “as she is transformed from an innocent, unsophisticated young woman into a spy for Britain’s MI5 during WWII.” It debuts at #5 in hardcover fiction, with print unit sales showing a slight uptick compared with its award-winning predecessors.
Charting a New Course
This week is the first in which NPD has generated unit sales through its DecisionKey platform. Since BookScan was acquired by NPD from Nielsen in January 2017, NDP has been migrating the data from Nielsen. With the migration completed, slight differences in the processes and methodologies of the two companies have led to minor variances for the overall market (less than 1%), although the differences may be slightly larger for specific ISBNs.
New & Notable
Vince Flynn: Red War
Kyle Mills
#1 Hardcover Fiction, #5 overall
“A highly original plot lifts bestseller Mills’s outstanding fourth entry in the late Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series,” our starred review said of this thriller featuring a Russian president who is “a vigorous, unrelenting dictator given to riding horses while shirtless and hunting wild bears.”
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Hank Green
#3 Hardcover Fiction
The first novel by John Green’s younger Vlogbrother “combines science fiction and mystery with philosophical musings about the perils of internet fame,” our review said. A signed edition lands at #6 in hardcover fiction, bringing print unit sales to 24K.
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Title | Author | Imprint | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fear | Bob Woodward | Simon & Schuster | 70,947 |
| 2 | Girl, Wash Your Face | Rachel Hollis | Nelson | 37,191 |
| 3 | Lord of the Fleas (Dog Man #5) | Dav Pilkey | Graphix | 35,124 |
| 4 | Whiskey in a Teacup | Reese Witherspoon | Touchstone | 29,527 |
| 5 | Vince Flynn: Red War | Kyle Mills | Atria | 26,908 |
| 6 | Supernova (Amulet #8) | Kazu Kibuishi | Graphix | 25,407 |
| 7 | Cravings: Hungry for More | Chrissy Teigen | Clarkson Potter | 23,410 |
| 8 | In Pieces | Sally Field | Grand Central | 21,845 |
| 9 | The Dichotomy of Leadership | Willink/Babin | St. Martin’s | 19,931 |
| 10 | Juror #3 | Patterson/Allen | Little, Brown | 16,530 |
All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
