Rise and Shine

Georgia politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams has the #7 book in the country with her debut political thriller, While Justice Sleeps; Doubleday recently acquired two more novels featuring its protagonist, law clerk Avery Keene. Abrams is also the author of eight romantic suspense novels of, under the name Selena Montgomery; five of those books have received periodic reissues, and Berkley will rerelease the first three, long out of print, in 2022. Her virtual tour in support of While Justice Sleeps has included an event with The Vanishing Half author Brit Bennett, hosted by Washington, D.C.’s MahoganyBooks.

Hot Book Summer

Jennifer Weiner and Emily Henry have new beach-bag bringalongs, just as they did this time last year, when the forthcoming season looked a lot different for most people than it does now. Weiner’s That Summer, #5 on our hardcover fiction list, follows 2020’s Big Summer. Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation, #2 on our trade paperback list, is a rom-com in the vein of her 2020 hit, Beach Read. The new books are off to stronger starts than their predecessors.

Jennifer Weiner's Recent First-Week Print Unit Sales

2020 Big Summer 11,297

2021 That Summer 16,221

Up 44%

Emily Henry's Recent First-Week Print Unit Sales

2020 Beach Read 5,441

2021 People We Meet on Vacation 18,842

Up 246%

Most Likely to Succeed

A trio of memoirs representing three generations of celebrity make strong debuts.

#2 hardcover nonfiction, #3 overall:
Yearbook by actor, screenwriter, and director Seth Rogan
Millennial, born 1982.

#3 hardcover nonfiction, #6 overall:
Billie Eilish by singer-songwriter Billie Eilish
Generation Z, born 2001.

#6 hardcover nonfiction:
Brat by actor, director, and travel writer Andrew McCarthy
Boomer, born 1962.

NEW & NOTABLE

THE DEVIL MAY DANCE
Jake Tapper
#11 Hardcover Fiction
“Tapper makes good use of the rich source material,” per our starred review, in this sequel to 2018’s The Hellfire Club, set in 1962 and involving fictionalized versions of the Rat Pack, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and the mob.

FACING THE MOUNTAIN
Daniel James Brown
#17 Hardcover Nonfiction
The Boys in the Boat author Brown “chronicles in this bravura account the experiences of Japanese American soldiers and their families during WWII,” our starred review said. It’s “an illuminating and spirited portrait of courage under fire.”

THE PLOT
Jean Hanff Korelitz
#20 Hardcover Fiction
In this “this ingeniously twisty novel,” our starred review said, a creative writing professor garners long-awaited fame when he swipes the plot from an unpublished novel by a dead student. “Deep character development, an impressively thick tapestry of intertwining story lines, and a candid glimpse into the publishing business make this a page-turner of the highest order.”