Books: Bestsellers

After one week on the lists the sales of two of the three Star Wars books have halved - and this was before the film opened to dire reviews in the States - but Terry Brooks's tale of The Phantom Menace maintains its position in the fiction list. After a rave reception on Late Review, Ralph's Party goes straight into the top half of the fiction list. Lisa Jewell wrote it after being sacked from her job, which is now looking like an excellent career move.

Compiled on sales over seven days ending 16 May 1999

Bookwatch Ltd, 1999

ORIGINAL FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER PRICE WEEKLY SALES

1 (1) Score! Jilly Cooper (Bantam Press) pounds 16.99 8,009

2 (2) Star Wars: Phantom Menace Terry Brooks (Century) pounds 15.99 4,605

3 (3) Net Force: hidden agendas Tom Clancy & Steve Piecenik (Headline) pounds 5.99 2,411

4 (4) Monsoon Wilbur Smith (Macmillan) pounds 17.99 1,958

5 (-) Ralph's Party Lisa Jewell (Penguin) pounds 5.99 1,846

6 (5) Singel White E-m@il Jessica Adams (Black Swan) pounds 6.99 1,797

7 (6) The Right Thing Judy Astley (Black Swan) pounds 6.99 1,783

8 (9) Come Together Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees (Arrow) pounds 5.99 1,464

9 (10) LA Connections 2: obsession Jackie Collins (Pan) pounds 2.50 1,208

10 (-) Life Skills Katie Fforde (Century) pounds 10 1,197

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER PRICE WEEKLY SALES

1(1) The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver (M Joseph) pounds 18.99 5,593

2(3) Men Are From Mars... John Gray (Thorsons) pounds 8.99 2,891

3(8) How to Get What You Want John Gray (Vermilion) pounds 9.99 1,625

4(6) Little Book of Feng Shui Lillian Too (Element) pounds 1.99 1,608

5(7) Pretty Boy Roy Shaw (Blake) pounds 14.99 1,449

6(9) Little Book of Wrong Shui Rohan Candappa (Ebury) pounds 1.99 1,364

7(-) The Planets David McNab & James Younger (BBC) pounds 19.99 1,254

8(4) Ground Force Weekend Alan Titchmarsh (BBC) pounds 9.99 1,174

9(5) Star Wars One: cross sections David West Reynolds (Dorling Kindersley) pounds 12.99 957

10(3) Star Wars One: screenplay George Lucas (Ebury) pounds 9.99 885