Winds Swept
The #1 book in the country is Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds, a “riveting story of love, courage, and sacrifice,” our starred review said, set in drought-ravaged 1934 Texas. Her previous book, 2018’s The Great Alone, debuted at #1 upon its release three years ago, with about a third as many print copies sold. The day after the new book published, Netflix premiered season 1 of Firefly Lane, adapted from Hannah’s 2008 novel of the same name. The 2009 trade paperback and new tie-in editions of that title sold 18K copies this week.
In Clubland
February book club selections are out, and two of the new releases have landed on our hardcover fiction list.
At #3, Reese’s Book Club pick The Sanatorium is a debut psychological thriller by Sarah Pearse and a “dark tale of family dynamics [that] is sure to please suspense fans,” our review said. Its “atmospheric setting”: a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps that at one time housed a facility for tuberculosis patients.
In the Read with Jenna pick, Send for Me, Lauren Fox “draws on old family letters for a poignant fictional memoir of her Jewish grandparents,” our review said, “who left Germany in 1938 with her mother and settled in Milwaukee.”
When You’re Big in Japan
According to NPD BookScan, manga, the largest graphic novel category, saw year over year growth of 43% in 2020 compared with 2019. Nine of the top 10 fastest-growing series had anime companions on the major streaming platforms, helping to drive discovery and growth. This week’s bestsellers reflect the Japanese comics’ popularity, with three titles debuting on our trade paperback list. Manga, too, dominates our monthly comics bestseller list.
NEW & NOTABLE
FOUR HUNDRED SOULS
Ed. by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
#2 Hardcover Nonfiction, #5 overall
Kendi and Blain present “an engrossing anthology of essays, biographical sketches, and poems by Black writers,” our review said, tracking 400 years of the African American experience. “With a diverse range of up-and-coming scholars, activists, and writers exploring topics both familiar and obscure, this energetic collection stands apart from standard anthologies of African American history.”
THE SURVIVORS
Jane Harper
#13 Hardcover Fiction
“Harper expertly weaves past guilts with present grief,” our review said, in an “elegiac suspense novel” that sees a Sydney physiotherapist’s already fraught return to his hometown further marred by the reemergence of long-buried secrets.
