Czech Mate

Dan Brown’s first novel in eight years, The Secret of Secrets, is the #1 book in the country. It’s the sixth outing for Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who first appeared in 2000’s Angels & Demons and propelled the author to fame with 2003’s The Da Vinci Code. This time, much of the action takes place in Prague, where Brown launched the international leg of his book tour with a sold-out event at Lucerna Palace Great Hall on September 18.

The Road Is Long

A pair of new self-help titles each address different kinds of loss. In The Unexpected Journey, #1 on our hardcover nonfiction list, Emma Heming Willis shares what she’s learned as a caregiver to her husband, actor Bruce Willis, who lives with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Our review said the book “will be a balm for readers grappling with a loved one’s recent diagnosis.” Three spots below, All the Way to the River by Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert is an “inspiring account how she struggled through financial hazards, obsessive love affairs, and emotional land mines on her way to ‘a healthy relationship with myself,’ ”per our starred review, and the latest Oprah’s Book Club pick.

Slow and Steady

Mick Herron’s Clown Town, which received a starred PW review, debuts at #5 on our hardcover fiction list. It’s Herron’s ninth Slow Horses novel; first-week print unit sales have picked up since the TV adaptation premiered in 2022.

Justice League

Books by two members of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first an Obama nominee and the second a Trump nominee, make their debuts this week. At #2 on our picture book list, Sonia Sotomayor’s Just Shine!, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara, tells a story inspired by the justice’s late mother. Vignettes from Celina’s childhood in Puerto Rico, service in World War II, and life in New York City depict the concrete ways, in the book’s refrain, “Celina showed her love.” In Listening to the Law, #5 on our hardcover nonfiction list, Amy Coney Barrett describes her path to the Supreme Court and her tenure so far. “I chose to weave together three themes: the work of the Court and its justices, the Consitution and its impact, and my own approach to judging,” she writes.