Dan Brown’s latest novel, Origin, was in the top spot on the fiction bestseller list in France at the end of October, and was only bested by Ken Follett’s gargantuan 900-page A Column of Fire in Spain and Fear of Flying 7A, Sebastian Fitzek’s new novel in Germany. (Origin was also #3 in Sweden and #1 in the Netherlands and Italy).
Fear of Flying 7A is a thriller about a plot to hijack and crash a flight from Buenos Aires to Berlin. Relatively few books by Fitzek, a top-selling author in Germany, have appeared in English translations so far.
In nonfiction, a pair of self-help books—Richard David Precht’s Know Yourself and Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of the Good Life—bracket Peter Wohlleben’s The Secret Network of Nature, which was at #2. Both Wohlleben’s and Dobelli’s books are already published in English translations.
The French are also enamored with Wohlleben; his previous global bestseller, The Secret Life of Trees, topped the nonfiction list at the end of October, followed by Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, last month’s #1, now in the second slot.
With Spain and its Catalonia region in a tense standoff over Catalonia’s bid for independence, Listen, Catalonia. Listen, Spain was #1 on the Spanish nonfiction list last month.
France
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Origine Origin Dan Brown Lattès | La vie secrète des arbres The Hidden Life of Trees Peter Wohlleben Les Arènes |
| 2 | On la trouvait plutôt jolie People Found Her Rather Pretty Michel Bussi Presses de la Cité | Homo deus: une brève histoire de l’avenir Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Yuval Noah Harari Albin Michel |
| 3 | Trois baisers Three Kisses Katherine Pancol Albin Michel | Sapiens: une brève histoire de l’humanité Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari Albin Michel |
For the week ended Oct. 29; used by arrangement with GFK/Livres Hebdo
Germany
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flugangst 7A Fear of Flying 7A Sebastian Fitzek Droemer HC | Erkenne dich selbst Know Yourself Richard David Precht Goldmann |
| 2 | Origin Origin Dan Brown Bastei Lübbe | Das geheime netzwerk der natur The Hidden Life of Animals Peter Wohlleben Ludwig |
| 3 | Die hauptstadt The Capital Robert Menasse Suhrkamp | Die kunst des guten lebens The Art of the Good Life Rolf Dobelli Piper |
For the week ended Oct. 29; used by arrangement with Buchreport
Spain
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Una columna de fuego A Column of Fire Ken Follett Plaza & Janés | Escucha, Cataluña. Escucha, España Listen, Catalonia. Listen, Spain Josep Borrell et al. Península |
| 2 | Origen Origin Dan Brown Planeta | Cree en ti Believe in Yourself Rut Nieves Planeta |
| 3 | Los pacientes del doctor García Dr. García’s Patients Almudena Grandes Tusguets | Defectos perfectos Perfect Defects Chenoa MR |
For the week ended Oct. 29; used by arrangement with El Cultural
