War Horse UK's bestselling book

Michael Morpurgo's War Horse (Egmont) was comfortably the bestselling book in the UK last week, scoring sales of 33,800 copies across all print editions in the week its Steven Spielberg-directed adaptation hit UK cinemas. In total, £174,000 was spent on copies of the 1982-published book, accounting for roughly 10 pence in every pound spent on a children's novel last week.

Two different editions of the novel top this week's Children's chart, with sales of 16,456 copies and 14,426 copies respectively, but the mass-market edition of S J Watson's début novel, Before I Go to Sleep (Black Swan), tops the ISBN-based Official UK Top 50 with single-edition sales of 29,908 copies. The mass-market edition of Transworld stablemate Joanna Trollope's Daughters-in-Law (Black Swan) takes second position in the Official UK Top 50 with a sale of 19,239 copies, ahead of the two editions of War Horse in third and fourth place.

Stephen Kelman's Man Booker-shortlisted Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) débuts as the highest new entry in this week's chart, helped by a spot in W H Smith's “£2.99 with the Times” promotion. It joins the Official UK Top 50 in eighth position, one ahead of John Green's teenage cancer novel earning rave reviews Stateside, The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton). The latter was the bestselling hardback book of the week, selling 7,262 copies in just three days.

Another novel much-praised in the US, Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding (Fourth Estate), hits the bestseller lists this week, charting in both the Original Fiction and Heatseekers lists. One of the buzz books at the Book Expo America last year, it sold 1,379 copies in three days last week, strong enough for 14th place in the Original Fiction chart. Stuart MacBride's Birthdays for the Dead (HarperCollins) retains pole position in the Original Fiction list, while Robert Lyndon's Hawk Quest (Sphere), one of the hot books at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair, débuts.

Paula McLain's The Paris Wife (Virago) tops the Heatseekers chart for a second week, while Louise Voss and Mark Edwards' Catch Your Death (Harper) débuts. The self-published thriller has been one of the bestselling e-books in the UK over the past 12 months and, as such, caught the attention of HarperCollins. The publisher bought four titles by the duo in a six-figure deal last summer.

Jennifer Worth's Call the Midwife (Phoenix) was the bestselling non-fiction book in the UK last week. The nursing memoir sold 7,700 copies across all print editions last week, ahead of its BBC adaptation hitting screens on Sunday.

Simon and Schuster's WeightWatchers titles are proving popular in New Year New You season. Seven books in the recently-launched WeightWatchers "mini series" earn places in this week's Paperback Non-fiction chart, while three of these enjoying strong enough sales to earn places in the Official UK Top 50. Chicken Favourites proved the pick of the bunch, selling 3,330 copies, with total sales of the mini-series standing at 20,700 copies for the week.

In addition to books such as Call the Midwife and Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy (HarperCollins), another non-fiction work earns bestseller status this week thanks to the BBC: Old House's recently-released facsimile edition of George Bradshaw's 1863 Handbook. The railway travel guide takes ninth position in this week's Hardback Non-fiction chart thanks to Michael Portillo's use of a copy to navigate Britain in BBC's “Great British Railway Journeys”—the third series of which is currently broadcasting on BBC2. The publisher's initial 10,000 print run has now almost run out, but a second run will arrive just in time.

In total, £24m was spent at UK booksellers last week, up 4% on the previous week, but down 10% on the same week last year. According to BookScan data, sales within the paperback fiction sector remain particularly poor as sales continue to transfer to the digital market.