We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending May 22, 2016–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.
(Debuted at #2 in Hardcover Nonfiction) The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee: “Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices. Throughout the narrative, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—cuts like a bright, red line, reminding us of the many questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world.” (May 2016)
(Debuted at #9 in Hardcover Fiction) The Fireman by Joe Hill: “No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.” (May 2016)
(Debuted at #15 in Hardcover Fiction) The Vegetarian by Han Kang: “Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home.” (February 2016)