France Looks to ‘Brooklyn,’ ‘Grey’ Claims Sweden

Two of the three top-selling fiction titles in France at the end of March were new to the list, with Guillaume Musso’s newest suspense novel, Brooklyn Girl, landing at #1. In second place was Olivier Bourdeaut’s debut novel, Waiting for Bojangles. Bourdeaut, a former real estate agent, has caused something of a stir with his first foray into fiction; his biography gives the novel’s publication an underdog undercurrent, with the author telling France’s L’Express magazine, “My only diploma is my birth certificate.”

E.L. James, meanwhile, has found a new foothold in Sweden, where Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian topped the fiction charts. For nonfiction, readers in the country went the nature route, with Rob Hume, the English ornithologist and former Birds magazine editor, taking the #1 slot with What Kind of Bird Is That?

In the Netherlands, the latest in Nicci French’s Frieda Klein series, Saturday Requiem, debuted at #1 at the end of March. This is the sixth Frieda Klein novel in the past five years for French—the pseudonym for English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Series are still proving popular in the market, and Santa Montefiore’s Songs of Love and War, the inaugural title in her Deverill Chronicles series, landed in the fourth spot last month in Holland. It was published in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster last August.

France

For the week ended Apr. 3; used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/Ipsos

Sweden

For the week ended Apr. 3; used by arrangement with Svensk Bokhandel

The Netherlands

For the week ended Mar. 27; used by arrangement with CPNB De Bestseller

United Kingdom

Cavan Scott’s Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space; The Escape made the jump to light speed in March, taking the #1 spot on the U.K. bestseller list. World Book Day 2016: The Great Mouse Plot, a Roald Dahl title specially released for the worldwide reading celebration, scampered in at #2, and Sue Hendra’s Supertato Hap-Pea Ever After landed at #3.

Combined Adult and Children’s Fiction and Nonfiction

Australia

The Disney Pixar Cool Coloring Book pulled into the lead in Australia, with Cassandra Clare’s Lady Midnight, the first in her new Dark Artifices series, fighting its way to #2. The title marks Clare’s first solo YA series since the six-part Mortal Instruments series wrapped in 2014.

Combined Adult and Children’s Fiction and Nonfiction

New Zealand

Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X rose to the top of the New Zealand charts after its #2 showing in February. The success of Cassandra Clare’s Lady Midnight carried over from neighboring Australia—in the two countries combined, the title sold more than 27,000 units.

Combined Adult and Children’s Fiction and Nonfiction

Source: Nielsen BookScan