So says Publishing News's Claire Bott, who quotes the show's producer (and de facto most powerful woman in publishing), Amanda Ross: "It's also probably one of the strongest groups of books we've had." That's because five of the titles are in the Nielsen BookScan paperback top 10 fiction chart: THE ISLAND by Victoria Hislop (Headline Review) tops it with 300,000 total copies sold; MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL by Dorothy Koomson and THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova (both Time Warner) are in third and fifth place, and with total sales of over 206,000 copies and 254,000 copies respectively; Sam Bourne's THE RIGHTEOUS MEN (HarperCollins) is at number four and has total sales of over 205,000 copies; and THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER by Elisabeth Hyde (Pan), is in seventh place and has total sales of over 111,000.

Not bad, to say the least. Jon Howells, National Press Officer for Waterstone's, said: "It's a very commercial set of books, yet all of a high standard. The other reason it's done so well this year is the weather - with a summer as long and hot as this year's, it’s no wonder the R&J sales are up, as people take advantage of the sunbathing weather. More sunbathing means more reading, and that has helped both Waterstone's and Ottakar's estates increase their Summer Club sales this year."