Nom and Rooney hold on to charts lead, while James outpaces Harris

A busy publication schedule which included new releases from heavy hitters such as Peter James, Dilly Court, Michael Connelly, the writing duo of Bill Clinton and James Patterson, and Hannibal Lecter creator Thomas Harris with his first novel in 13 years, could do nothing to dislodge Pinch of Nom and Normal People from the UK Official Top 50 top two spots.  

Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson's Pinch of Nom (Bluebird) notched up its fourth straight and sixth non-consecutive overall number one, shifting 31,099 units through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. Sally Rooney's Nibbie-winning Normal People (Faber) held firm on the number two spot overall while recording her second Mass Market Fiction pole position on the trot, selling just under 18,000 copies. 

Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone © Mike English, Sally Rooney

There was another familiar face in Paperback Non-Fiction with Jordan B Peterson's 12 Rules for Life (Penguin, 8,337 copies) hitting the summit for the second week in a row. 

The big battle of the week was for the Original Fiction number one. A new Roy Grace novel from James is often a safe bet to top that chart, but he was going up against arguably the most newsworthy release of the year with Harris' return. Readers, at least in week one, plumped for James by a somewhat surprisingly wide margin: his Dead at First Sight (Macmillan) outsold Harris' standalone non-Lecter Cari Mora (William Heinemann) by 11,216 copies to 4,161.      

There was much movement across the top 50 with 16 new titles breaking into the chart, five of which were in the top 10. Saga star Court was the highest-ranking debutant with her Nettie's Secret (HarperCollins) shifting 14,956 units to hit third place, equalling her highest-ever chart position. Hot on her heels (just 134 copies behind) was Connelly with his latest Ballard and Bosch thriller, Dark Secret Night (Orion). The mass market paperback of Clinton and Patterson's The President is Missing (Arrow, 13,529 copies) rounded out the top five.

Bryony Gordon, Jordon B Peterson

For the first time in five weeks there was a new Children's number one with Bryony Gordon's You Got This (Wren & Rook, 10,477 copies) storming 91 places up the charts to displace Jeff Kinney's Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid (Puffin). Journalist Gordon's book is perhaps something of a companion title to Wren & Rook's You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed, which was a Nibbie winner in the Children's Non-Fiction and Illustrated Category. You Got This is aimed at teenage girls and deals issues such as self-esteem, body image, sexuality and mental health.