Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren tops the Women’s Prize shortlist for sales

Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren (Jonathan Cape) leads the Women’s Prize 2024 shortlist in sales terms, in the last week before the prize’s announcement on Thursday (14th June).

According to Nielsen UK Bookscan, the novel has sold 12,281 hardback copies since being published on 31st August 2023, and 10,789 paperback copies since publishing in that format on 25th April 2024, making a combined sales total of 23,070 copies to date.

Enright’s bestselling novel is The Gathering, which won the Booker prize in 2007, with combined lifetime sales of 244,268 copies.

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (Faber), also shortlisted for the prize, is Kilroy’s bestselling title to date, with combined sales of 14,436 to date (4,864 in hardback; 9,572 in paperback), while Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (Jonathan Cape) has sold 8,000 copies so far (1,743 in hardback and 6,257 in paperback). 

Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (Canongate) has so far shifted 4,536 copies in total (3,257 in hardback; 1,279 in paperback), while Brotherless Night by V V Ganeshananthan has sold 835 in hardback, 2,305 in paperback (3,140 in total). Debut novel River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure (Duckworth) has sold 850 in hardback and 2,206 in paperback (3,056 in total).

Last year’s Women’s Prize winner was Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber) – her second bestselling title after Poisonwood Bible. Demon Copperhead has lifetime sales of 236,615 books in total (19,535 in hardback; 217,080 in paperback). In April 2023, the month prior to the Pulitzer Prize announcement (8th May), the hardback averaged 187 copies a week. The paperback released on 4th May. In May, the paperback average jumped to 4,378 a week (+2241%). In June, it jumped again to 7,806 a week (+78%). The Women’s Prize announcement was made on 14th June 2023.