Alberto Espinosa’s latest book, the self-help guide The Secrets I Never Told You, remained on top of the nonfiction list in Spain in December. An industrial engineer by training, Espinosa has gone on to work as a screenwriter, playwright, writer, actor, director, and columnist at the Barcelona-based daily newspaper El Periódico de Gatalunya. On top of the fiction chart is Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Labyrinth of The Spirits, the fourth and final volume in his Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. HarperCollins will publish The Labyrinth in the U.S. later this year.
Lars Kepler—a pseudonym for husband-and-wife writing team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril—hit the top of Sweden’s fiction list with The Rabbit Hunter, the sixth book in the Joona Linna series, which follows Detective Superintendent Linna as he attempts to stop a mysterious killer called the Rabbit Hunter. Topping nonfiction was Sometimes I Don’t Feel So Good by YouTube sensation Therese Lindgren.
On Italy’s combined fiction and nonfiction list, November’s #2-ranked book, Roberto Saviano’s The Children’s Fishing Boat, unseated The Art of Being Fragile, by poet and schoolteacher Alessandro D’Avenia, for the #1 position. Saviano, an Italian journalist and essayist, is the creator of the Italian crime drama TV series Gomorrah, an adaptation of his 2006 nonfiction book of the same name.
December International Bestsellers
Spain
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | El laberinto de los espíritus The Labyrinth of the Spirits Carlos Ruiz Zafón Planeta | Los secretos que jamás te contaron The Secrets I Never Told You Albert Espinosa Grijalbo |
| 2 | Todo esto te daré All This I Will Give You Dolores Redondo Planeta | Toca el piano How to Play the Piano James Rhodes Blackie Books |
| 3 | Falcó Falco Arturo Pérez-Reverte Alfaguara | Homo Deus. Breve historia del mañana Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Yuval Noah Harari Crítica |
For the week ended Jan. 2; used by arrangement with El Cultural
Sweden
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaninjägaren The Rabbit Hunter Lars Kepler Albert Bonniers Förlag | Ibland mår jag inte så bra Sometimes I Don’t Feel So Good Therese Lindgren Bokförlaget Forum |
| 2 | Kan man dö två gånger? Can You Die Twice? Leif G.W. Persson Albert Bonniers Förlag | Guinness World Records 2017 Guinness World Records 2017 Bonnier Fakta |
| 3 | Störst av allt The Greatest of All Malin Persson Giolito Wahlström & Widstrand | En droppe midnatt A Drop of Midnight Jason Timbuktu Diakité Albert Bonniers Förlag |
For the week ended Dec. 16; used by arrangement with Svensk Bokhandel
Italy
| Combined Fiction and Nonfiction | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La paranza dei bambini The Children’s Fishing Boat Roberto Saviano Feltrinelli | 4 | Il labirinto degli spiriti The Labyrinth of the Spirits Carlos Ruiz Zafón Mondadori |
| 2 | L´arte di essere fragili The Art of Being Fragile Alessandro D’Avenia Mondadori | 5 | La ragazza del treno The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins Piemme |
| 3 | Harry Potter e la maledizione dell´erede Harry Potter and the Cursed Child J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne Salani | 6 | A cosa servono i desideri What Are the Desires Fabio Volo Mondadori |
For the week ended Dec. 16; used by arrangement with Informazioni Editoriali
