independent press
top 40
bestsellers
The Independent Publishers Caucus proudly presents the Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers! In partnership with the American Booksellers Association, this new bestseller list identifies the top titles from independent presses as represented at independent bookstores across the US.
fiction
nonfiction
PUBLISHER SPOTLIGHT:
Melville House
Melville House is an independent publisher founded in 200. Their list includes books of literary fiction, political and activist nonfiction, cookbooks and books on food, and a classics line called The Art of the Novella. The company has published two Nobel Prize winners, Imre Kertész and Heinrich Böll and numerous New York Times bestsellers. They have a diverse list and publish a number of debut authors.
TITLE SPOTLIGHT:
The Age of Alchemy: The Secret History of Chemistry from Ancient Magic to Modern Science by Kit Chapman (GREYSTONE BOOKS)
Blending vivid storytelling, forgotten history, and fascinating science, the book explores the meaning and impact of chemical knowledge—its power to heal, to harm, and to transform societies. It explores how alchemists inspired modern medicine, how the search for immortality led to both lethal elixirs and life‑saving antimalarials, how pigments and alloys reshaped economies and empires, and how the old dream of transmuting metals was finally realized in nuclear physics. The Age of Alchemy invites readers to see chemistry not as a dry catalogue of formulas, but as a four‑thousand‑year human drama of curiosity, ambition, ingenuity, and resilience—a global story of how we learned to understand and manipulate the material world.
fiction
1. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
(Spiegel & Grau)
2. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
(Transit Books)
3. Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
(Crooked Lane Books)
4. May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
(Transit Books)
5. Stitched by Eli McCann
(Torrey House Press)
6. The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson (Transl.)
(Norton)
7. John of John by Douglas Stuart
(Grove Press)
8. The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson
(Slowburn)
9. Stoner by John Williams
(NYRB Classics)
10. Heart the Lover by Lily King
(Grove Press)
11. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
(Grove Press)
12. The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters
(Catapult)
13. Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
(NYRB Classics)
14. Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan
(Grove Press)
15. Solace House by Will MacLean
(Grove Press)
16. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower
(Rhysdon Press)
17. I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney
(Zibby Publishing)
18. On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle, Barbara J. Haveland (Transl.)
(New Directions)
19. Rottenheart by Kat Dunn
(Zando)
20. London Station by David McCloskey
(W. W. Norton & Company)
21. The Italian Obsession (House of Ferrara) by T L. Swan
(Arndell)
22. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
(Europa Editions)
23. The Iliad by Homer, Emily Wilson (Transl.)
(W. W. Norton & Company)
24. Slow Horses (Deluxe Edition) (Slough House #1) by Mick Herron
(Soho Crime)
25. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower
(Rhysdon Press)
26. Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
(Melville House)
27. The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn
(New Directions)
28. Up to No Good: The Complete Elderly Lady Stories by Helene Tursten
(Soho Crime)
29. F*cked Up Fairy Tales: Sinful Cinderellas, Prince Alarmings, and Other Timeless Classics by Liz Gotauco, Jade Gotauco (Illus.)
(W. W. Norton & Company)
30. Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
(David R. Godine Publisher)
31. Victorian Psycho: A Novel by Virginia Feito
(Liveright)
32. Sometimes I Scare Myself: A Collection of Horror by Jeneva Rose
(Blackstone Publishing)
33. Taiwan Travelogue by Shuang-zi Yang
(Graywolf Press)
34. Butcher & Blackbird: The Ruinous Love Trilogy by Brynne Weaver
(Slowburn)
35. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3 by Beth Brower
(Rhysdon Press)
36. The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
(Grove Press)
37. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
(Lanternfish Press)
38. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
(Beacon Press)
39. The Overstory by Richard Powers
(Norton)
40. Glass, Irony and God by Anne Carson
(New Directions)
NONfiction
1. Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State by Michael Lewis
(W. W. Norton & Company)
2. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
(Milkweed Editions)
3. Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson
(Liveright)
4. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore
(Liveright)
5. Guinness World Records 2027 by Guinness World Records
(Guinness World Records)
6. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon
(Liveright)
7. The Game by Peter King
(W. W. Norton & Company)
8. Bogland: The Secret World That Defies Death and Protects Life by Merritt R. Turetsky
(W. W. Norton & Company)
9. The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris
(W. W. Norton & Company)
10. Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
(W. W. Norton & Company)
11. Living in the Present with John Prine by Tom Piazza
(W. W. Norton & Company)
12. Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach
(W. W. Norton & Company)
13. Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson
(Dalkey Archive Press)
14. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
(Beacon Press)
15. Eros the Bittersweet: An Essay (Nobel Prize Winner) (Princeton Classics #129) by Anne Carson
(Princeton University Press)
16. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben
(Greystone Books)
17. I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu AnYan
(Astra House)
18. A Brief History of Cities in 32 Inventions: The Ideas and Technologies That Made Modernity Possible by Jonn Elledge
(The Experiment)
19. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
(Oregon State University Press)
20. With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories by Nicole Nehrig
(W. W. Norton & Company)
21. Monstrous Bitch: A History of Terrifying Women by Eleanor Johnson
(Princeton University Press)
22. Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
(Liveright)
23. Animals Taught Me Everything by Pam Houston
(Torrey House Press)
24. A Resistance History of the United States by Tad Stoermer
(Steerforth)
25. Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences by Anton Jäger
(Verso)
26. A Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros, John Howe (Transl.)
(Verso)
27. Patty Lyons' Knitting Er: A Step-By-Step Guide to Fixing Your Knits, Before and After Bind Off by Patty Lyons
(David & Charles)
28. Mutual Aid: New and Expanded Edition: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade
(Verso)
29. Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
(Spiegel & Grau)
30. Trash!: A Garbageman's Story by Simon Pare-Poupart
(Melville House)
31. The Age of Alchemy: The Secret History of Chemistry from Ancient Magic to Modern Science by Kit Chapman
(Greystone Books)
32. The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life by Helen Whybrow
(Milkweed Editions)
33. S.P.Q.R.: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
(Liveright)
34. Pepper by Karl Stevens
(TOON Books)
35. Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd
(Haymarket Books)
36. A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps by Jonn Elledge
(The Experiment)
37. A History of the World in Twelve Beans by Joël Broekaert
(Greystone Books)
38. Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering by Alex Davies
(W. W. Norton & Company)
39. 42 Tales from Life: A Modern Bestiary by Richard Dawkins
(Yale University Press)
40. The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
(Norton)
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