Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900

This book charts the publishing industry and bestselling fiction from 1900, featuring a comprehensive list of all bestselling fiction titles in the UK. This third edition includes a new introduction which features additional information on current trends in reading including the rise of Black, Asian and LGBTQIA+ publishing; the continuing importance of certain genres and up to date trends in publishing, bookselling, library borrowing and literacy. There are sections on writing for children, on the importance of audiobooks and book clubs, self- published bestsellers as well as many new entries to the present day including bestselling authors such as David Walliams, Peter James, George R R Martin and far less well known authors whose books s sell in their thousands. This is the essential guide to best-selling books, authors, genres, publishing and bookselling since 1900, providing a unique insight into more than a century of entertainment, and opening a window into the reading habitsand social life of the British from the death of Queen Victoria to the Coronavirus Pandemic.  

“This is an astounding work of both love and scholarship and there are nuggets on every page.  Who knew that JK Rowling had no interest in Tolkien?  The pages are brimful of tips and tittle tattle, of vast advances paid for books that sold mere handfuls, and tiny advances for books that began mega-sellers and so many stories behind the scenes of so many successful authors, titles and series.  It both a feast and an invaluable resource.” (Peter James, UK bestselling author of crime and thriller novels)

“Looking beyond dubious publishers' statistics, Bloom has found that while Christie, du Maurier, Innes et al can be numbered with today's till-ringers such as Binchy, Collins and Welsh, so can such forgotten names as Dolf Wyllarde, Steve Francis and Sydney Horter. Bloom also examines the changing publishing industry, the coming of book clubs and reading groups and "the cult of the author".” (Independent)

“A big topic is tackled with some gusto in Bestsellers...One of the most consistently interesting things about this highly informed book is the extraordinary amount of detail along the way.” (Robert Giddings, Tribune) 

“As an informed and witty companion to what people read and why, it is excellent.” (The Economist)

“Clive Bloom delves incisively into the literary history of twentieth-century bestsellers, reminding us of the role popular authors such as Hall Caine, Marie Corelli, Dennis Wheatley and Catherine Cookson have played in sustaining not only the economic fortunes of British publishing, but also the social habits of a British mass reading public. Bloom offers us an archaeology of best-selling fiction that is impressively researched, thoughtfully argued and immensely readable.” (David Finkelstein, Head of Media and Communication, Queen Margaret University College, UK) 

“Clive Bloom's critical survey represents a new level of organised response to the vast magma of fiction underlying the quality novel and canonical titles of the twentieth century. His book is, in my judgment, the first attempt to look systematically and comprehensively at both the product and the machinery of production and their respectively changing nature from decade to decade. This is an important book in its own right; more importantly, it is a book that will be built on by other scholars in this expanding field of cultural exploration.” (Professor John Sutherland, University College London, UK) 

“Clive Bloom's Bestsellers will be an invaluable resource for both the student and the general reader of twentieth-century popular fiction. The book begins with a series of engaging and wide-ranging chapters on the principal publishing themes; but the bulk of the work comprises a very full series of pen-portraits of the best-known popular authors. For pleasure, and for study, Bestsellers will be a much-thumbed work of reference.” (Professor Dominic Head, Brunel University, UK) 

“Bestsellers:Popular Fiction Since 1900 is invaluable for university staff, students, and the general reading public (of twentieth-century fiction).” (Georges-Claude Guilbert, Université de Rouen, Cercles) 

“There are few studies out there that combine so effortlessly a clarity and ebullience of style with first-rate, high-level academia. This is not simply a romp through Jackie Collins and Jeffrey Archer, but a surprising and illuminating discussion of those authors that have shaped the way literature is viewed in this country today.” (Amazon review)

Clive Bloom is Emeritus Professor of English and American Studies at Middlesex University, UK and currently holds two other professorial posts. A broadcaster and a widely published writer, he is also Series Editor of Palgrave Macmillan's Crime and Gothic series.