Terry Pratchett’s The Shepherd’s Crown among this year’s essential bestsellers

It has been an interesting year for the book industry, with two major releases – Harper Lee’s ‘rediscovered’ novel Go Set A Watchman and Terry Pratchett’s posthumous final book The Shepherd’s Crown – generating unusually high levels of media buzz and bolstering sales.

There have been other surprises, too. At one point this year, half of the top ten bestsellers on the UK version of Amazon were colouring books marketed to adults, prompting the Daily Telegraph’s Harry de Quetteville to ask “What on earth is going on here?”.

If you’d still rather stick with reading rather than colouring, however, here is the pick of this year’s bestsellers. From crime thrillers to real-life dramas, there’s sure to be something to get you hooked.

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery, Henry Marsh

A collection of memories and meditations from retired brain surgeon Henry Marsh, Do No Harm recalls both the triumph and the trauma of a lifetime in neurosurgery. First published last autumn, the book has continued to ride high in the Amazon bestseller list ever since – and with good reason. The Guardian’sEuan Ferguson praised the book for telling its stories with “great tenderness, insight and self-doubt”, while the Daily Telegraph called the memoir “expert, humble and profoundly human”. It has since been nominated for a host of prizes, including the Costa Biography Award and the Wellcome Trust Award.

A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman

A quirky tale from Swedish author Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove has crept onto the WH Smith bestseller list as it continues its word-of-mouth march across Europe. The titular Ove is a cantankerous misanthrope, at war with neighbours, shop assistants and society in general. But beneath this rough exterior lies a stubborn decency and well of generosity that turns him into an unexpected – and unwilling – saviour to the unfortunates who cross his path.Jane Clinton of the Daily Express heralded Backman’s debut novel as an “uplifting, life-affirming and often comic tale of how kindness, love and happiness can be found in the most unlikely places”.

The Wright Brothers, David McCollough

David McCollough has two Pulitzer awards under his belt for historical biographies (of US presidents John Adams and Harry S Truman), so it’s no surprise that his account of the lives of pioneering aviators Wilbur and Orville Wright is being feted as one of the most compelling non-fiction books of the year. A New York Times bestseller, The Wright Brothers takes in Wilbur and Orville’s childhood, their exhaustive trial-and-error quest to enable man to achieve flight, and their subsequent fierce legal battles to safeguard their innovations. Critics have raved about the book, with the New York Timespraising it as “concise, exciting and fact-packed” and the Washington Postcalling it “magical”.

‘Grey’ Predicted to Become Top-Selling Novel of 2015
Go Set A Watchman, Harper Lee

It isn’t often that a book launch makes international headlines. Then again, it’s not often that fans get a follow-up to one of the best-known novels in the world more than half a century after its release. Go Set A Watchman is a companion novel to Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Gaby Wood in the Daily Telegraph describes it as more of a draft for things to come than a standalone novel. “It feels like a sequel,” she says. “But really, it’s more like a ghost: the spectre of Lee’s restless, ardent thoughts in progress.” The largely unedited manuscript is a little rocky, and not all the surprises in store are pleasant – the depiction of Atticus is sure to break a few hearts – but the novel has nonetheless been praised for its “humour, humanity and lovely turns of phrase”. Others have commended Lee’s passages of “modernist linguistic playfulness”, as well as the portrayal of Scout’s “proto-feminist” resistance to conventionality.

The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett

Published posthumously after Pratchett succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease earlier this year, the final novel in his beloved Discworld series was always going to excite his legions of fans. Written in the knowledge that the novel would likely by his last, The Shepherd’s Crown revisits favourite characters and themes from the fantasy satire for a final send-off. Critics concluded that The Shepherd’s Crown lived up to the hype, providing a fitting grace note to Pratchett’s prodigious career. Kat Brown in the Daily Telegraph called the book “magnificent”, remarking that, despite his illness, Pratchett’s prose remained as sharp as ever.

The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins

Judging by the posters covering the nation’s bus stops and train stations, The Girl on the Train is this year’s Gone Girl. In this case, it seems that the hype may be justified. Paula Hawkins’ debut novel, a hallucinatory thriller about an out-of-control alcoholic who becomes entangled in an unexplained disappearance, has received widespread acclaim. The Washington Post applauds the “ingeniously constructed” mystery at the heart of the novel.

A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson

A sequel of sorts to her 2013 novel Life After Life, Kate Atkinson’s latest book turns its attention to Teddy, the brother of its predecessor’s heroine. The plot hinges on his nerve-jangling experience as a pilot in the Second World War, and his difficult relationship with his daughter Viola. The Observer’s reviewer, Stephanie Merritt, declared the novel Atkinson’s best work, particularly lauding the novel’s unconventional time-hopping narrative and “genre-defying” style.

Merritt says God in Ruins appears to be a more straightforward novel than Life After Life, but still flits back and forth in time. “This wilful disruption of chronology allows Atkinson to reveal her characters in glimpses over the course of the novel while withholding vital information that creates mysteries at the heart of the story,” she adds. Atkinson’s details of Teddy’s disastrous bombing raids are “extraordinary feats of dramatic writing”, nor does she flinch from “the most grotesque atrocities of war”, says Merritt.

The Girl In The Spider’s Web, David Lagercrantz

The original Millennium Trilogy, which is estimated to have shifted 80 million copies worldwide, has long been “as common a sight on beaches as sun umbrellas”, as The Guardian puts it. So it’s no surprise that the release of the fourth book is one of the literary events of the year – even though it isn’t written by the original author. Replacing Stieg Larsson, who died shortly before the publication of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is fellow Swedish crime writer David Lagercrantz. And judging by the critics’ response, he’s done an admirable job of recreating the noirish atmosphere and dark thrills that infused Larsson’s trilogy. Several reviewers were left baffled by the complex plot, but the New York Times argues that the main draw of the series has always been the “fierce charm” of its heroine, punk hacker Lisbeth Salander. Her pairing with journalist sidekick Mikael Blomkvist, the NYT assures readers, remains “compelling”.

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