New releases nabbed the top spots on bestseller lists across international markets in October. Patrick Modiano, the winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature, debuted at the top of his native France’s fiction list with his latest work, So That You Don’t Get Lost in the Neighborhood. Edge of Eternity, the closer in Ken Follett’s bestselling Century trilogy, landed at #2 (the book was published in the U.S. in September by Dutton).
French journalist and historian Éric Zemmour’s The French Suicide led the country’s nonfiction list. The book, per the publisher, claims that the “Vichy government’s role in the Holocaust has been misunderstood.”
The Living and the Dead, a crime thriller from German writer Nele Neuhaus, hit #1 on Germany’s fiction list. Another thriller, Sebastian Fitzek’s Passenger 23, claimed the #2 spot. Lutz Seiler’s Kruso, winner of the 2014 German Book Prize, came in third.
German scientist Giulia Enders landed at the top of the combined list in the Netherlands with yet another new release, Gut Feeling, described by the publisher as an exploration of what a “complex and wonderful organ our gut is.” The book ousted the previous month’s top seller, Golden Years by Annegreet van Bergen, which fell two spots to #3. Those of Those of You, a collection of nursery rhymes and poems by Dutch children’s author Annie Schmidt, who passed away in 1995, debuted on the chart at #2.
Also new to the Dutch list was French economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which hit #6. The title became an unexpected bestseller in the U.S. when it was released by Harvard University Press in March, and last month, it was awarded the 2014 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.
International Bestsellers
France
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier So That You Don’t Get Lost in the Neighborhood Patrick Modiano Gallimard | Le suicide français The French Suicide Éric Zemmour Albin Michel |
| 2 | Aux portes de l’éternité Edge of Eternity Ken Follett Robert Laffont | Merci pour ce moment Thank You for this Moment Valérie Trierweiler Les Arènes |
| 3 | Le jour où jai appris à vivre The Day I Learned to Live Laurent Gounelle Kero | 500 questions que personne ne se pose 500 Questions that Nobody Ever Asked Laurent Baffie Kero |
For the week ended Nov. 2, 2014; used by arrangement with Livres Hebdo/lpsos.
Germany
| Fiction | Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Die Lebenden und die Toten The Living and the Dead Nele Neuhaus Ullstein | Der Junge muss an die frische Luft The Boy Needs Some Fresh Air Hape Kerkeling Piper |
| 2 | Passagier 23 Passenger 23 Sebastian Fitzek Droemer | Vermächtnis. Die Kohl-Protokolle Legacy: The Kohl Protocols Schwan/Jens Heyne |
| 3 | Kruso Kruso Lutz Seiler Suhrkamp | Der Fluch der bösen Tat The Curse of the Evil Deed Peter Scholl-Latour Propyläen |
For October 2014; used by arrangement with Buchreport.
Netherlands
| Combined | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De mooie voedselmachine Gut Feeling Giulia Enders Luitingh-Sijthoff | 4 | Kom hier dat ik u kus Come Over So That I Can Kiss You Griet op de Beeck Prometheus |
| 2 | Die van die van u Those of Those of You Annie M.G. Schmidt Van Oorschot | 5 | Bijbel in gewone taal The Bible in Everday Language — Royal Jongbloed |
| 3 | Gouden jaren Golden Years Annegreet van Bergen Atlas Contact | 6 | Kapitaal in de 21e eeuw Capital in the Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty De Bezige Bij |
For the week ended Nov. 11, 2014; used by arrangement with CPNB De Bestseller.
