The Booksellers Association spoke to staff who also highlighted James by Percival Everett, and everything from Chris Hoy’s autobiography to a book about fishing by a dog. This year’s Booker prize winner will be the Christmas No 1 bestseller, predict UK booksellers.
![[All That Matters by Sir Chris Hoy]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/441ba8b9087da2cb2de48d0a1c6ee72cabe2eb92/0_0_975_1500/master/975.jpg?width=120&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Booksellers Association (BA) asked bookshop staff which book they think could reach the festive top spot, and Orbital by Samantha Harvey was the most popular response. The slim volume was “selling well even before the Booker prize win, and since then it has been flying off the shelves,” said Amanda Truman, who owns Truman Books in Farsley, West Yorkshire.
![[Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/86060b6ac3a679c8cf57a5eee8bc38e27b947b30/1031_126_931_1498/master/931.jpg?width=120&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Fleur Sinclair, president of the BA and owner of Sevenoaks Bookshop in Kent, would be “amazed” if Orbital doesn’t top the charts. Between its Booker win and “accessible paperback format and price, so many of our customers are buying it both for themselves and as gifts”.
Orbital became the first Booker novel to hit No 1 on the UK bestseller chart in the week of its win, with 20,040 copies sold that week. The novel follows a day in the life of six astronauts on the International Space Station. Aside from the novel “being a literary masterpiece, awards really help sell books”, said Jude Brosnan, marketing manager at Stanfords bookshops. “Along with all the extra promotion they provide, we find customers really appreciate recommendations – even more so at this time of year.”.
Several booksellers suggested that a second novel from this year’s Booker shortlist will do well in the Christmas run-up: James by Percival Everett, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. The novel “left me feeling the enormous potential we have when we come together to change the world for the better and overcome injustices”, said Sinclair.
