Volume 262
Issue 08
02/23/2015
New titles swept the top of France’s fiction bestseller list in January, led by Marc Levy’s She and Him. Wattpad sensation Anna Todd took the #2 spot with the second volume of her After series, After We Collided. Simon & Schuster acquired world rights to the series in a six-figure deal in May 2014 and released After We Collided in the U.S. in November.
Michel Houellebecq took the #3 spot in France with Submission. Houellebecq’s novel, which imagines a Muslim president governing France in 2022, was featured on the cover of Charlie Hebdo and drew criticism ahead of its publication in January, with some calling it Islamophobic. Farrar, Straus and Giroux announced last month that it picked up U.S. rights.
Houellebecq’s work landed at #2 on Italy’s combined list. The #1 spot belonged to Umberto Eco’s Number Zero. In Massimo Gramellini and Chiara Gamberale’s I’ll Watch Over You, which hit #3, a woman reaches out to her guardian angel after the love of her life abandons her.
A Darker Sky, by Mari Jungstedt and Ruben Eliassen, topped Sweden’s fiction list. Majgull Axelsson’s My Name Is Not Miriam came in #2, and last month’s #1 title, Stalker by Lars Kepler, dropped to #3.
On the nonfiction side, Michel Cymes’s Hippocrates to Hell topped France’s list. In Sweden, Jens Andersen’s This Day, a Life came in at #1. The book is, according the publisher, the first
biography of Astrid Lindgren, the late Swedish writer, in 40 years, and is based on letters, diaries, and photographs.
The Italian edition of Chris Kyle’s American Sniper, which has resurfaced on American bestseller lists thanks to the film adaptation, came in at #5 on Italy’s combined list. The film premiered worldwide on January 16.
International Bestsellers
France
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elle & lui She and Him Marc Levy Robert Laffont/Versilio | Hippocrate aux enfers Hippocrates to Hell Michel Cymes Stock |
| 2 | After We Collided After We Collided Anna Todd Hugo Roman | L’homme qui ment The Man Who Lies Marc Lavoine Fayard |
| 3 | Soumission Submission Michel Houellebecq Flammarion | Et tu n’es pas revenue And You Don’t Come Back Marceline Loridan-Ivens Grasset |
For the week ended Feb. 8, 2015; used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/Ipsos.
Sweden
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | En mörkare himmel A Darker Sky Jungstedt/Eliassen Albert Bonniers Förlag | Denna dagen, ett liv This day, a Life Jens Andersen Norstedts |
| 2 | Jag heter inte Miriam My Name Is Not Miriam Majgull Axelsson Brombergs | Lär dig leva Learn to Live Billmark/Billmark Livskraft |
| 3 | Stalker Stalker Lars Kepler Albert Bonniers | Naturlära Nature Learning Lars Lerin Albert Bonniers Förlag |
For January 2015; used by arrangement with Svensk Bokhandel
Italy
| Combined | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Numero Zero Number Zero Umberto Eco Bompiani | 4 | La relazione The Report Andrea Camilleri Mondadori |
| 2 | Sottomissione Submission Michel Houellebecq Bompiani | 5 | American Sniper American Sniper Chris Kyle Mondadori |
| 3 | Avrò cura di te I’ll Watch over You Gramellini/Gamberale Longanesi | 6 | Storia di una ladra di libri The Book Thief Markus Zusak Frassinelli |
For January 2015; used by arrangement with Informazioni Editoriali.
