Harper Lee’s ‘parent novel’ to To Kill a Mockingbird sets tills ringing despite ambivalent reception
Despite the widespread doubts over the decision to publish Go Set A Watchman, and despite the cries of horror that went up around the world over the weekend as readers discovered that the godlike hero of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, had become a racist, the novel sold more than 105,000 copies in its first day on sale in the UK.
William Heinemann, the UK publisher of Go Set a Watchman, announced the figure, which covers both print and ebooks in the UK, on Wednesday morning. “It’s so fabulous to see a book dominating the news agenda and to be reminded of just how important literature and reading is to all of us,” said publisher Susan Sandon. “I speak for everyone at Penguin Random House when I say how privileged we are to be part of this piece of publishing history.”
Book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan does not generally release first-day sales figures, although in 2007 it revealed that JK Rowling’s final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had sold 2,652,656 copies in the UK in just one day. More recently, sales in the UK of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol reached 551,000 print copies in its first five days on sale in the UK and EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey sold over 664,000 in one week in 2012, according to the Bookseller. James’s sequel Grey, released last month, sold 385,972 print copies in three days and 261,429 ebooks, giving a total sale of 647,401 and breaking Brown’s record.
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William Heinemann, the UK publisher of Go Set a Watchman, announced the figure, which covers both print and ebooks in the UK, on Wednesday morning. “It’s so fabulous to see a book dominating the news agenda and to be reminded of just how important literature and reading is to all of us,” said publisher Susan Sandon. “I speak for everyone at Penguin Random House when I say how privileged we are to be part of this piece of publishing history.”
Book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan does not generally release first-day sales figures, although in 2007 it revealed that JK Rowling’s final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had sold 2,652,656 copies in the UK in just one day. More recently, sales in the UK of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol reached 551,000 print copies in its first five days on sale in the UK and EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey sold over 664,000 in one week in 2012, according to the Bookseller. James’s sequel Grey, released last month, sold 385,972 print copies in three days and 261,429 ebooks, giving a total sale of 647,401 and breaking Brown’s record.
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