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Hosseini hangs on to top spot

22.01.08 Philip Stone

Despite Danny Scheinmann's Random Acts of Heroic Love (Black Swan) going under the "Richard and Judy" spotlight last Wednesday, it was Khaled Hosseini who retained his place at the head of the charts for the second successive week. A seven-day sale of 38,252 for A Thousand Splendid Suns was enough to keep pole position for the acclaimed follow-up to The Kite Runner.

Scheinmann's sales increased by 6,599 to 24,295 in the week to 19th January, but he was unable to move position from fourth due to Lesley Pearse's Faith (Penguin) jumping into third place, shifting 24,820 in its first full week on sale. Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (Vintage) held firm in second.

James Patterson's 7th Heaven remains the leader in original fiction for Century and Random House but former publisher Headline has also cashed in on the release. Both Step in a Crack and The Quickie will appear in The Sunday Times's Hardback Fiction Top 10 this weekend. Each title sold over 1,500 units last week, at little over £5, according to the data supplied by Nielsen BookScan.

January continues to be a strong month for the book trade with revenue through the TCM ahead of last year. The £29m spent through the market last week was 7.2% up on last year's figure (£27m). It seems customer spending within the trade has been unaffected by recent credit crunch and Christmas overspend fears-but it remains to be seen what effect the predicted doom and gloom will have on book buyers.

Retail Bestseller News Khaled Hosseini Philip Stone

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