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The first book in Suzanne Collins' dystopian Hunger Games trilogy was comfortably the bestselling book in the UK last week. The Hunger Games (Scholastic) scored sales of 34,800 copies across all print editions in the seven days to 24th March.
The sequel, Catching Fire (Scholastic), was the second bestselling book of the week with sales of 20,200 copies, while the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay (Scholastic), sold 16,500 copies.
Just over £420,000 was spent on copies of the trilogy last week—up 35% on the previous week, and up a massive 3,725% on the same week last year—helped by the release of the film adaptation of The Hunger Games at UK cinemas last week.
However, as sales of the books in the trilogy were split across numerous different editions, the second book in John Grisham's YA Theodore Boone series, The Abduction (Hodder), is this week's Official UK Top 50 number one. Sales of the mass-market publication totalled 19,298 copies last week, some 2,722 copies more than the bestselling edition of The Hunger Games.
Mark Billingham's Good as Dead (Sphere), takes third place in the Official UK Top 50 with a seven-day sale of 15,966 copies. The novel, his 10th Tom Thorne thriller, takes pole position in this week's Top 20 Mass-market Fiction chart, scoring the Birmingham-born writer his first ever mass-market number one—six months after he scored his first ever Bookseller number one when the hardback edition of the same novel topped the Original Fiction chart.
Jeffrey Archer’s second Clifton Chronicle was once again the bestselling hardback novel in the UK. The Sins of the Father (Macmillan) has sold 7,906 copies in its first full week on shelves. It has now sold 20,600 copies in its first 10 days on bookshop shelves, a figure which the first book in the series, Only Time Will Tell (Macmillan), took six weeks to achieve.
Jessica Bird’s 10th Black Dagger Brotherhood novel, Lover Reborn (Piatkus), penned under her paranormal romance pseudonym J R Ward, takes fourth place in the Original Fiction chart as this week’s highest new entry. The previous book in the series, Lover Unleashed, sold 13,000 copies in its trade paperback format. Also new is former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion’s Silver (Cape)—a sequel to one of the greatest adventure stories ever told, Treasure Island.
Croydon-born Rachel Khoo, who now lives and cooks in Paris, becomes the latest TV chef to earn bestseller status. Her collection of classic French recipes with modern twists, The Little Paris Kitchen (Michael Joseph), sold 4,000 copies in its first week on shelves, and takes second position in this week’s Hardback Non-fiction chart behind the Hairy Bikers' Big Book of Baking (Weidenfeld).
Also new in the Hardback Non-fiction chart is Merckx (Yellow Jersey), William Fotheringham’s biography of the famous cyclist Eddy, and A Street Cat Named Bob (Hodder)—street musician James Bowen’s memoir of life on the streets with his titular feline friend.
Sales of Jennifer Worth’s midwifery memoirs tumbled 60% week-on-week, but she was nonetheless the bestselling author in the paperback non-fiction sector—worth £90,000 to booksellers last week. Her Call the Midwife (Phoenix) spends an 11th consecutive week on top of the Paperback Non-fiction chart—its 14th in total.
In total, £22.1m was spent in printed books in the UK last week, down 15% on the Mother's Day-boosted previous week, and down 8.8% year on year.