Publishing: Split success for 'English Patient'

Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient was the biggest earner in British bookshops last week, taking more than pounds 38,000. There are two paperback versions of the novel, on which Anthony Minghella's Oscar-nominated film is based. One has a picture of the film's leading actor Ralph Fiennes on the cover, and reached number seven in the paperback best-sellers list, while the edition with the original cover reached number nine.

If everybody had bought the same edition, the combined sales would have put it at number two.