Six of the nine top fiction titles on the international bestsellers list were new in March, with U.S. authors making strong debuts in Germany and France. J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar was at #3 at the end of the month in Germany (where memoirs are classified as fiction), while Harlan Coben's Promise Me landed at #3 in France. Further down the French list, at #10, was Jay McInerney's The Good Life. Topping the French list is the second volume in a trilogy of police novels; the current title involves crimes committed at the urging of the devil.
The two bestselling novels in Spain tap into history: The Frozen Heart revolves around an inheritance linked to the Civil War, while The Blood of Innocents travels back to the Inquisition.
An American author was at #5 on Germany's nonfiction list. Louann Brizendine's The Female Brain was published this spring here by Morgan Road and, according to PW's review, is "a comprehensive new look at the hormonal roller coaster that rules women's lives." In third place in Germany is How to Put the Whole Life in Suitcases, the story of a young nun who left the convent after 12 years to start a family.
The French nonfiction list is dominated by presidential politics. The new bestseller in March, Project Hope, is the vision of political outsider François Bayrou, while a portrait of all the presidential candidates moved up to #10.
International Bestsellers
| France | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | The Oath of PurgatoryJean-Christophe Grangé Albin Michel | Project HopeFrançois Bayrou Plon |
| 2 | Digital FortressDan Brown J-C Lattes | The Unknown at the PresidencyPierre Pean Fayard |
| 3 | Promise MeHarlan Coben Belfond | A Power Named DesireCatherine Nay Grasset |
| For week ending March 25, used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/Ipsos. | ||
| Spain | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | The Frozen HeartAlmudena Grandes Tusquets | The Soul Is the BrainEduardo Punset Aguilar |
| 2 | The Blood of InnocentsJulia Navarro Plaza & Janes | Secrets and Lies of the Royal FamilyPilar Eyre La Esfera de los Libros |
| 3 | The Cathedral of the SeaIldefonso Falcones Grijalbo | Anatomy of FearJose Antonio Marina Anagrama |
| For week ending March 25, used by arrangement with El Cultural. | ||
| Germany | ||
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
| 1 | TannodAndrea Schenkel Edition Nautilus | I Am Off for a Little WhileHape Kerkeling Malik |
| 2 | Artemis Fowl: The Lost ColonyEoin Colfer List | The GraduatePetra Gerster Rowohlt Berlin |
| 3 | The Tender BarJ.R. Moehringer S. Fischer | How to Put the Whole Life in SuitcasesVeronika Peters Goldmann |
| For week ending March 25, used by arrangement with Buchreport. | ||
Also, check out our expanded list of this month's bestsellers in Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
