French readers still have a hankering for WWII fiction. Eric Vuillard’s Goncourt Prize–winner The Agenda, a historical novel about the Nazi annexation of Austria, remained at #1 at the end of December. Olivier Guez’s The Disappearance of Josef Mengele fell from the second spot on the list to the third. The nonfiction list, too, retained the same top-selling title as last month: The Miracle Spinoza, a hagiography of the Dutch philosopher by Frédèric Lenoir.

German fiction fans embraced Tyll in December. The latest novel by perennial bestseller Daniel Kehlmann is a fanciful tale about the eponymous hero’s adventures in 17th-century Europe following the Thirty Years’ War. The popular thriller writer Sebastian Fitzek had the third-best-selling novel last month with The Fear of Flying 7A, about a mentally ill passenger who threatens to crash an airliner. In German nonfiction, readers moved Swiss philosopher Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of the Good Life to the top position. The book appeared last year in an English translation published by Hachette.

In Spain, Javier Sierra’s The Invisible Fire, a thriller about the hunt for the Holy Grail, ended last year atop the fiction list. Several of Sierra’s books have been published in English translations by Atria. The Spanish nonfiction list remains consumed by books about Catalonian politics, with Eduardo Mendoza’s What Is Happening in Catalonia taking the top spot, followed by the polemic Against Separatism by Fernando Savater.

December International Bestsellers

France

Fiction Nonfiction
1 L’ordre du jour
The Agenda
Eric Vuillard
Actes Sud
Le miracle Spinoza
The Miracle Spinoza
Frédéric Lenoir
Fayard
2 Darker
Darker
E.L. James
Jean-Claude Lattès
La vie secrète des arbres
The Hidden Life of Trees
Peter Wohlleben
Les Arènes
3 La disparition de Josef Mengele
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele
Olivier Guez
Grasset et Fasquelle
Sapiens: une brève histoire de l’humanité
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
Albin Michel

For the week ended Dec. 30, 2017; used by arrangement with GFK/Livres Hebdo

Germany

Fiction Nonfiction
1 Tyll
Tyll
Daniel Kehlmann
Rowohlt
Die Kunst des guten lebens
The Art of the Good Life
Rolf Dobelli
Piper
2 Origin
Origin
Dan Brown
Bastei Lübbe
Über den anstand in schwierigen...
On Decency in Difficult Times...
Axel Hacke
Kunstmann
3 Flugangst 7A
Fear of Flying 7A
Sebastian Fitzek
Droemer
Nächste ausfahrt zukunft
Next Exit Future
Ranga Yogeshwar
Kiepenheuer & Witsch

For the week ended Jan. 2; used by arrangement with Buchreport

Spain

Fiction Nonfiction
1 El fuego invisible
The Invisible Fire
Javier Sierra
Planeta
Qué está pasando en Cataluña
What Is Happening in Catalonia
Eduardo Mendoza
2 Patria
Fatherland
Fernando Aramburu
Tusquets
Seix Barral
Contra el separatism
Against Separatism
Fernando Savater
Ariel
3 Eva
Eva
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Alfaguara
Fugas
Escapes
James Rhodes
Blackie

For the week ended Jan.2; used by arrangement with El Cultural