Bookstat chart: Gregory's Tidelands rises as top three hold firm

Claire McGowan's The Other Wife (Thomas & Mercer) has once again claimed the Bookstat e-book lead spot, as the top three remain the same for a third week running. Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare (Quercus) and Harriet Tyce's Blood Orange (Wildfire) joined The Other Wife by McGowan (pictured) at the top of the chart.

Perhaps reflecting the wishful thinking of a nation during week five of lockdown, the highest riser was Fiona Gibson's The Mum Who Got Her Life Back (Avon), which bounced six places upwards into fourth place. Dawn O'Porter's The Cows followed its HarperCollins stablemate (or barnmate) up the top 10, boomeranging back up to fifth place.

Philippa Gregory's Tidelands (Simon & Schuster) was the highest new entry in the chart, hitting ninth place. The first book in the author's new series, set during the English Civil War in the 1600s, scored two weeks in the Original Fiction top spot in hardback format last August.

With comfort reads including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Pottermore) and Nicola May's self-published The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay holding firm in the Bookstat chart, Difficult Riddles for Smart Kids (Horizon) also notched up a third straight week in the top 10.

With publishers' own numbers soaring above Bookstat's estimates, the e-book market seems to be climbing in sales during lockdown, with demand higher than Bookstat would usually expect. The Flatshare in particular seems to be spiking well beyond expectations. No title in the Bookstat chart, aside from Kindle Unlimited titles, has ever topped 20,000 units, yet The Flatshare sold over that a week ago, according to Hachette, and last week soared even higher, to over 22,000 units. The publisher stated that Blood Orange sold 17,881 units and Rebecca Searle's In Five Years 8,978 for the same week, all well above Bookstat estimates.