FICTION HARDBACKS
Last
weekWeeks in
top 101
The Man Who Died Twice
Richard Osman
(Viking £18.99)
Stolen diamonds worth £20 million cause
chaos for the Thursday Murder Club
(20,135)1102
Better Off Dead/Lee Child and Andrew Child
(Bantam Press £20) Jack Reacher comes to the aid of
an army veteran searching for her twin brother (15,840)243
Never/Ken Follett
(Macmillan £20) An international crisis edges
the world closer to a third world war (6,380)524
The Dark Hours/Michael Connelly
(Orion £20) Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch probe the
murder of a man at a crowded street party (6,125)425
The Judge’s List/John Grisham
(Hodder £20) The investigator Lacy Stoltz pursues a
cunning serial killer who is a serving judge (6,080)646
The Promise/Damon Galgut
(Chatto £16.99) Booker-winning tale of the decline of
a white family in post-apartheid South Africa (5,465)337
Walking on Sunshine/Giovanna Fletcher
(M Joseph £14.99) A cancer victim leaves instructions
for three friends to help deal with their grief (4,730)928
Silverview/John le Carré
(Viking £20) A bookshop owner in a small seaside town
receives a proposal from an enigmatic visitor (4,490)869
Three Sisters/Heather Morris
(Zaffre £16.99) Three sisters reunited at Auschwitz-
Birkenau are determined to survive (4,165)10 510
Beautiful World, Where Are You/Sally Rooney
(Faber £16.99) The lives and loves of a group
of four young friends in Ireland (3,870)12 10FICTION PAPERBACKS
Last
weekWeeks
in top 101
The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
(Penguin £8.99)
Four friends in a retirement village team
up to solve a murder on their doorstep
(16,215)1282
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day/Milly
Johnson (Simon & Schuster £8.99) An inn becomes a
haven for six people forced to shelter there (7,660)823
The Midnight Library/Matt Haig
(Canongate £8.99) A magical library allows a young
woman to live life’s endless possibilities (7,445)5404
Dune/Frank Herbert
(Hodder £9.99) Factions battle for control of an
inhospitable planet and its valuable resource (7,400)10 55
Left You Dead/Peter James
(Pan £8.99) A man reports his wife has vanished
without a trace; Roy Grace thriller (7,350)266
It Ends With Us/Colleen Hoover
(Simon & Schuster £8.99) A first love’s reappearance
threatens a woman’s present relationship (7,320)4127
The Know/Martina Cole
(Headline £9.99) A mother vows vengeance when her
teenage daughter is raped and murdered (7,090)13 58
A Gambling Man/David Baldacci
(Pan £8.99) Aloysius Archer probes a blackmail case
involving a married mayoral candidate (6,630)349
A Special Cornish Christmas/Phillipa Ashley
(Avon £7.99) A fortune teller predicts three friends will
meet the love of their life by Christmas Day (6,590)16 110
Girl A/Abigail Dean
(HarperCollins £8.99) A lawyer reconnects with her
siblings to execute their abusive mother’s will (6,540)78CHILDREN'S
1
Last
week
—
Weeks
in top 10
1Gangsta Granny
Strikes Again!
David Walliams and
Tony Ross
(HarperCollins £14.99)
New crimes point to the
Black Cat’s return (76,410)2
Last
week
2
Weeks
in top 10
6The Christmas Pig
JK Rowling and Jim Field
(Little, Brown £20)
A boy’s treasured
childhood toy goes
missing on Christmas Eve
(20,905)3
Last
week
3
Weeks
in top 10
4Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Big Shot
Jeff Kinney
(Puffin £12.99)
Greg unexpectedly lands
a spot on a basketball
team (18,215)4
Last
week
4
Weeks
in top 10
6The Christmasaurus and
the Naughty List
Tom Fletcher and Shane
Devries (Puffin £12.99)
The Christmasaurus helps
naughty children right
their wrongs (16,425)5
Last
week
1
Weeks
in top 10
2Greg the Sausage Roll:
Santa’s Little Helper
Mark Hoyle, Roxanne
Hoyle and Gareth Conway
(Puffin £10.99) A festive
fairytale adventure
(13,110)Eating to Extinction
The World’s Rarest Foods and
Why We Need to Save Them
by Dan Saladino
Cape £25Saladino (one of the co-
presenters of BBC Radio 4’sThe Food Programme) goes in
search of the world’s rarest
foods, ones that we need to
protect if we are to stand any
chance of reversing the huge
loss of biodiversity caused by
modern agriculture. This may
sound a bit worthy, but it is
actually a book of wonders
that celebrates diversity on
the plate, from local English
apples to the flat oyster in
Denmark, a food that Saladino
describes as “older than
grass” although it is now
endangered.One Pot, Pan, Planet
A Greener Way for You to
Cook for You, Your Family
and the Planet by Anna Jones
4th Estate £26The concept here — an original
one — is how to save energy
in the kitchen. Jones, the
queen of delicious, modern
vegetarian food, has come up
with a series of pared-down
but deeply flavoured recipes
that limit the number of pans
and processes. A happy
by-product is that by saving
resources you can also reserve
your own energy. It’s worth
getting just for the recipe for
saag aloo shepherd’s pie.La Vita è Dolce
Italian-Inspired Desserts
by Letitia Clark
Hardie Grant £26This is joyous: a sun-filled
celebration of the sweets and
desserts of Italy. Who could
resist tiny peach and almond
cookies with ricotta cream, or
red wine-roasted figs? Clark,
a British chef and artist living
in Italy, writes in a confidence-
inspiring way. “Cooking,”
she writes, “should never
be a drama, a trauma, or
something you feel you just
can’t do.”Herb A Cook’s Companion
by Mark Diacono
Quadrille £26Diacono presents herbs as
a world of exciting flavourCooking
should never
be a drama
or a trauma
rice cakes and kimchi after
her Korean mother dies
of cancer. “When I go to
H Mart, I’m not just on the
hunt for cuttlefish and three
bunches of scallions for
a buck: I’m searching for
memories.”
possibilities; “a sea of
pleasure”. There’s a growing
guide to everything from
parsley to more unusual herbs
such as shiso, a leaf that
Diacono says “spans the gap
between mint and cumin”.
He shows how you can dry
different herbs or turn them
into flavoured salts and sugar
(basil sugar = a revelation).
The inviting recipes include
beef braised in ale with
persillade, and lemon thyme
and leek tart.The Female Chef
Stories and Recipes from 31
Women Redefining the British
Food Scene by Clare Finney
and Liz Seabrook
Hoxton Mini Press £28This is a quietly subversive
book. Women are still so
under-represented in top
restaurants that it feels
extraordinary to see 31 of
them celebrated between
two covers (plus their
favourite recipes). Finney
has conducted thoughtful
interviews with everyone
from Asma Khan to Angela
Hartnett. It leaves you full of
hope that, at long last, female
chefs may get their due. c28 November 2021 39