While many first novels this season have benefited from the proliferation of on-air book clubs, Alice Sebold's debut, The Lovely Bones, is selling extremely well without such endorsements. The Little, Brown winner so far has 525,000 copies in print after eight printings; first printing was 35,000. The book did get stellar reviews, including a starred one in PW ("Sebold's first novel is a small but far from minor miracle...."). There was also Anna Quindlen's recommendation on the Today Show's summer reading segment ("If you only read one book this summer, read The Lovely Bones") and more kudos from Janet Maslin on CBS Sunday Morning, John Searles on the CBS Early Show and Charlie Rose. Sebold is on the road, visiting 10 cities through July 31.
With reporting by Dick Donahue
