New Fiction Favorites

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 5/22/2006

Plenty of new fiction titles jump onto the international bestsellers list in April, with one new hot book each cracking the top three in France, Spain and the Czech Republic. New at #2 in France was The Key Star, described as a novel about a generation of women somehow related to the goddess Moira. The Cathedral of the Sea, #3 in Spain, is set in medieval Barcelona and filled with intrigue, violence and passion. Claiming the #2 spot in the Czech Republic, Onegin Was Russian is billed as a humorous novel about life in totalitarian Czechoslovakia.

Swedish author Henning Mankell hit the top 10 list in France and Spain, with different books, both Wallander mysteries. Before the Frost was #5 in Spain, while The Return of the Dancing Master was #5 in France. Both of Mankell's books are published in the U.S. by New Press in hardcover and Vintage in paperback.

In nonfiction, The Science of Health topped the list in Spain. Written by a Spanish cardiologist, the book offers advice on how to improve a person's quality of life. A couple of books on France's nonfiction list will resonate with Americans. Journey to the Land of Cotton traces the evolution of the cotton business. The Dark Side of Oil looks at the looming oil crisis; it's written by Eric Laurent, author of Bush's Secret World, which was published by Polity Press in the U.S. in September 2004.