Among the survivors of the summer, or even of the quarter, here are six women, proud representatives of a genre that is on the rise, on the rise. Thus the four Seasons (Hugo Roman) by Morgane Moncomble, reached, at the very least, stratospheric sales of 630,000 copies (including 240,000 for volume I, An autumn to forgive you).
Well, we forgive her, especially Sarah Rivens, the other star of the romance (dark that one), which places volume I of Lakestone (HLab) in 10th place, volume I of Captive, published in August 2022 (!) in 16th place (thus accumulating 67 weeks of presence in our fiction ranking) and volume II (dating from January 2023) in 20th position. Here again, the figures give you chills. The first volume of Captive displays 430,000 copies on the counter, the 2nd 290,000 and its Lakestone (published in January of this year) is close to 235,000 copies.
The L’Express ranking.
© / THE EXPRESS
A style that is all the rage
Who can do better? Not Chloé Wallerand, another Lady of Romance, whose volume IV of her series The Devil’s Sons (Plumes du Web) is in 15th place with 45,000 copies. Not so bad in these times. To finish with this genre which is more popular than ever, we must also mention Hazel Diaz and her volume I of Kiara. Blood-stained diamond (The Archipelago, released May 16, 2024), a perfect example of the dark As its title suggests, with 60,000 copies, the American Ana Huang, whose first volume in the series Twisted, Twisted Love (Hugo Roman, released in October 2023), exceeds 142,000 copies and Anita Rigins who emerges, upon its release, in 2nd place with The Liars Game (Hugo Roman).
And male honor? It is saved by Philippe Collin who continues his race in the lead with The Ritz Bartender (Albin Michel), a summer phenomenon that is close to 130,000 copies sold. And by this other very nice surprise of the semester, Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser, also published by Albin Michel, which is a hit with 245,000 copies sold in just over seven months, while the novel A wild animal (Rosie & Wolf) by Joël Dicker reached 355,000 copies.
Guillaume Musso, Franck Thilliez and Jean-Baptiste Andrea will also be mentioned for the male gender. If we do the math, we count 14 novels by women, and six by men. An imbalance rare enough to be worth mentioning.