Sally Diamond shoots up the charts—Irish monthly bestsellers
All data supplied by Nielsen Book Data
Fiction
Three Irish writers top the charts for the month of March, with Liz Nugent shooting up to first place with her roaringly successful Strange Sally Diamond, a BBC Book Club pick already!
Claire Keegan is still riding that well-deserved Oscars wave with the heart-breaking and magical Foster and Small Things Like These both making appearances in the top ten.
We’re seeing Small Things Like These picked for lots of book clubs too, due to its manageable length but meaty content – a perfect choice for busy bookclubbers!
Old Gods Time moves up one spot, and Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry makes a return to the charts after a few month’s absence. Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us makes its inevitable appearance and Wexford author, Carmel Harrington’s newest historical romance, The Girl From Donegal makes its way onto the charts this month.
Non-fiction
All of us are apparently seriously bored with our regular lunches and not yet bored of Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ as Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book and Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book take the top three spots alongside the ex-royal.
We all seem to be taking full advantage of working from home with Nathan Anthony, airfrying and slow cooking our way through 2023.
We’re still curious about our mental and physical well-being, even after the January new year’s resolutions have fallen by the wayside, with all of us looking to the experts to hack our bodies and brains to build that Atomic Habit(s) and tune into our hormone happiness with Deirdre Lundy’s The Menopause: The Essential Guide to Managing Your Health in Mid-Life and Vex King’s chart-topping Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Great.
We’re also looking forward to connecting with nature as spring rolls out with Wild Embrace: Connecting to the Wonder of Ireland’s Natural World making its way onto the 6th spot and understanding the modern Ireland that we live in today with Fintan O’Toole’s We Don’t Know Ourselves chronicling the social and political changes that have transformed our isle.
Children’s
There hasn’t been any movement in the top four children’s books between February and March, with the World Book Day special editions still dominating the charts.
For the first time in a while, no young adult book appears on the children’s charts, despite their surge in popularity thanks to TikTok – but perhaps the World Book Day titles retailing at €1.50 accounts for this anomaly.
Superheroes, time-traveling adventure and chaotic pigeons are just some of the topics young readers were gravitating towards this March, with high sales for Dave the Pigeon, Dragon Realm Adventure, Choose Your Own Adventure and the Spider-Man Pocket Guide.
Overall
The overall charts reflect the highest sales in the other charts, with mainly adult and children’s fiction all featuring here with high sales volumes. The World Book Day sales boosted five children’s books into the top ten overall and Nathan Anthony’s Air Fryer lunches wins out above them all, with over 14,000 in sales in the last month.
Liz Nugent’s Strange Sally Diamond follows closely at 12,000, followed by Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time rounding out the top three with 5,500.
