Ken Follett’s latest novel, A Column of Fire, has taken the top slots on the fiction bestseller lists in both France and Germany, with Swedish author David Lagercrantz’s The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye filling in the second spot in France and Norwegian Jo Nesbø’s new thriller The Thirst at number two in Germany. In Italy, Follett’s 900-plus-page opus is #2, trailing behind Dust and Shadow, the new installment of Antonio Manzini’s series starring sleuth Rocco Schiavone.
In nonfiction, the French are taken with a pair of heady titles: Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, which sits at #1, is followed by neuropsychologist Boris Cyrulnik’s examination of the importance of spirituality to humans, Psychotherapy from God.
In Germany, forester Peter Wohlleben has another hit with his follow-up to his global bestseller The Secret Life of Trees. The new book, The Secret Network of Nature, discusses how modern technology is an echo of nature’s own “wood wide web,” among other topics. The book, under the name The Inner Life of Animals, will be released November 7 in North America by Greystone Books with a 70,000-copy first printing. At #2 in Germany is Axel Hacke’s essay that questions what is the right way to live in a world where ethics always seem to be compromised.
No nonfiction cracked the top six on the Italian list.
France
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Une colonne de feu A Column of Fire Ken Follett Robert Laffont | Homo deus: une brève histoire de l’avenir Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Yuval Noah Harari Albin Michel |
| 2 | La fille qui rendait coup pour coup The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye David Lagercrantz Actes Sud | Psychothérapie de Dieu Psychotherapy from God Boris Cyrulnik Odile Jacob |
| 3 | Frappe-toi le coeur Strike the Heart Amélie Nothomb Albin Michel | La vie secrète des arbres The Hidden Life of Trees Peter Wohlleben Les Arènes |
For the week ended Oct. 1; used by arrangement with GFK/Livres Hebdo
Germany
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Das Fundament der Ewigkeit A Column of Fire Ken Follett Bastei Lübbe | Das geheime Netzwerk der Natur The Secret Network of Nature Peter Wohlleben Ludwig |
| 2 | Durst The Thirst Jo Nesbø Ullstein | Über den Anstand in schwierigen Zeiten... On Decency in Difficult Times… Axel Hacke Kunstmann |
| 3 | Die Geschichte der Bienen The History of Bees Maja Lunde Btb | Kontrollverlust Loss of Control Thorsten Schulte Kopp |
For the week ended Oct.. 15; used by arrangement with Buchreport
Italy
| Combined Fiction and Nonfiction | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pulvis et umbra Dust and Shadow Antonio Manzini Sellerio Editore Palermo | 4 | Tempo da elfi Time of the Elves Francesco Guccini & Loriano Macchiavelli Giunti Editore |
| 2 | La colonna di fuoco A Column of Fire Ken Follett Mondadori | 5 | L’Arminuta L’Arminuta (The Returned) Donatella Di Pietrantonio Einaudi |
| 3 | Le otto montagne The Eight Mountains Paolo Cognetti Einaudi | 6 | Storie della buonanotte per bambine ribelli Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls Francesca Cavallo & Elena Favilli Mondadori |
For the week ended Sept. 17; used by arrangement with Informazioni Editoriali
