Canadian Hit Heads South

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 1/22/2007

Beginning in December, PW began adding Canada to our rotation of international bestseller lists. It will come as little surprise that the books at the top of the Canadian hardcover lists have a heavy American accent, although there certainly are titles on the charts by Canadian authors. Secrets from the Vinyl Café, #2 in fiction, is the latest from Stuart McLean, host of the popular CBC Radio show The Vinyl Café. His previous Café titles have won various awards—2005's Home from the Vinyl Café won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humor and was released in the U.S. by S&S. Home, along with the U.S. rights to Secrets and the Vinyl Café Diary, have recently been acquired by Riverhead publisher Geoff Kloske, who published McLean when he was at S&S. The trade paperback edition of Homewill be released in March.

The top Canadian title in nonfiction—Mike Holmes's Make It Right—landed at #5 in December. Holmes is a professional contractor with his own television shows on HGTV, BBC Canada and the Life Network. The top-selling title in Canada during the four weeks ended December 24, however, was the trade paperback edition of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, the Giller Prize winner by Vincent Lam. U.S. rights were acquired last fall by Weinstein Books as part of a two-book deal, and Cures will be published here this fall.