After Roe, ‘Handmaid’s’ returns; Han rules sales
It has been nearly 40 years since Margaret Atwood published her seminal novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Anchor, 336 pp.). But less than a week after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, the novel is back on USA TODAY’s BestSelling Books List at No. 128.
The dystopian feminist novel centers on handmaid Offred, who lives in a totalitarian theocratic state the Republic of Gilead, where handmaids are forced to birth children for the ruling class. The novel makes frequent appearances on banned books lists.
A special, unburnable edition of the novel recently was auctioned for $130,000 by Sotheby’s, with the proceeds donated to PEN America, which advocates for free expression.
The 1985 novel reached as high as No. 4 in 2017 when the streaming series based on the novel premiered on Hulu. “The Testaments,“the author’s follow-up to “Handmaid’s Tale,” entered at No. 2 on the list in 2019.
Sales spike for ‘Summer’
Jenny Han’s young adult novel “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 304 pp.) got a sales boost after its adapted series premiered June 17 on Amazon Prime, but a week later it is dominating the list.
This is not the first time the author’s young adult novels have been turned into a series; Han previously saw a sales spike in 2018 when “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before“was turned into a series by Netflix.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” nabbed the top spot on the list, followed by “It’s Not Summer Without You” at No. 3, “We’ll Always Have Summer” at No. 4 and “The Complete Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy” at No. 33.
The trilogy follows Belly, a young woman who spends her summers at a beach house with family friends, including brothers Jeremiah and Conrad, whom for Belly fall somewhere between good friends and crushes. This summer, everything changes for Belly, including her relationships with Jeremiah, Conrad and herself.
Thriller a top debut for Sager
Riley Sager has his highest debut on the bestsellers list this week with his latest novel “The House Across the Lake” (Dutton 368 pp.) at No. 14. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” serves as inspiration for the thriller.
The story follows recently widowed actress Casey Fletcher who, in an attempt to escape bad press, retreats to her family’s Vermont lake house with a pair of binoculars. But she soon discovers the couple across the lake isn’t as glamorous as they first appear.
Of the novel, a USA TODAY review notes, “If you thought you knew Sager’s typical double-twists, and the tropes and trips of the suspense and thriller genre, there’s a tonal shift three-quarter of the way in that will either feel brilliant – or infuriating. Either reaction leads to a page-turning climax.”