Popular Fiction Topped December International Bestseller Lists

French readers still have a hankering for WWII fiction. Eric Vuillard’s Goncourt Prize–winner The Agenda, a historical novel about the Nazi annexation of Austria, remained at #1 at the end of December. Olivier Guez’s The Disappearance of Josef Mengele fell from the second spot on the list to the third. The nonfiction list, too, retained the same top-selling title as last month: The Miracle Spinoza, a hagiography of the Dutch philosopher by Frédèric Lenoir.

German fiction fans embraced Tyll in December. The latest novel by perennial bestseller Daniel Kehlmann is a fanciful tale about the eponymous hero’s adventures in 17th-century Europe following the Thirty Years’ War. The popular thriller writer Sebastian Fitzek had the third-best-selling novel last month with The Fear of Flying 7A, about a mentally ill passenger who threatens to crash an airliner. In German nonfiction, readers moved Swiss philosopher Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of the Good Life to the top position. The book appeared last year in an English translation published by Hachette.

In Spain, Javier Sierra’s The Invisible Fire, a thriller about the hunt for the Holy Grail, ended last year atop the fiction list. Several of Sierra’s books have been published in English translations by Atria. The Spanish nonfiction list remains consumed by books about Catalonian politics, with Eduardo Mendoza’s What Is Happening in Catalonia taking the top spot, followed by the polemic Against Separatism by Fernando Savater.

December International Bestsellers

France

For the week ended Dec. 30, 2017; used by arrangement with GFK/Livres Hebdo

Germany

For the week ended Jan. 2; used by arrangement with Buchreport

Spain

For the week ended Jan.2; used by arrangement with El Cultural