A “Millionaire’s Christmas” in France

By Edward Nawotka

Millionaire Marc Levy

France’s L’express newspaper rounds up 2009 sales for a variety of titles and dubs the holiday season in France the “Millionaire’s Christmas.” Dan Brown topped the list, moving 565,000 copies of The Lost Symbol. He was followed by Marie Ndiaye’s Trois femmes puissantes, which sold 450,000 copies and Anna Gavalda’s L’Echappée belle (Le Dilettante), which sold 350,000 copies. “Huge numbers,” pronounces L’express. The ever popular Marc Levy was fourth on the list with La Première nuit (Robert Laffont), selling 250,000 copies and Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ Cercle littéraire des amateurs d’épluchures de patates (Nil) [The Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Society] rounds out the top five, having spent 37 weeks on the bestseller list and moving some 260 000 copies, with “no reason it should stop.” Check out the full listing of the top 30.