Pushkin hits 100,000 copies milestone for first time with The Passenger

Pushkin Press says it has sold more than 100,000 copies of The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, translated by Philip Boehm. It is the first time the independent publisher has sold that many copies of a single book.

Last year, the novel became the publisher’s first ever UK Nielsen BookScan top 10 bestseller in both hardback and paperback. It was then Pushkin’s first ever Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month and, on hardback publication, the novel hit the number one spot on the chain’s hardback fiction chart. According to Nielsen BookScan in the UK, the book has sold 17,028 copies in hardback and 60,401 in paperback, excluding lockdown periods.

"I’m over the moon that Pushkin has sold over 100,000 copies of The Passenger in less than a year," said m.d. Adam Freudenheim. "It’s evidence of how this powerful book resonates with readers more than 80 years after its first publication. I’m thrilled with the outsized success of The Passenger, which wouldn’t have been possible without the support of booksellers around the country. I only wish this 1930s novel didn’t feel as timely as it does at the moment."

The publisher has also acquired the rights to publish Lives Apart, the only other novel written by Boschwitz. It will be published in 2023 — its first ever publication in English — with translation again by Boehm.

Since hardback publication last April, film rights have been optioned, and rights have now been sold in 26 territories.