Top 40 Fiction Bestsellers by Independent Press

September 19, 2026

Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed, and distributed by The Independent Publishers Caucus.

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1. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Spiegel & Grau)
2. The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson (Transl.) (W.W. Norton)
3. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books)
4. The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters (Catapult)
5. The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson (Slowburn)
6. John of John by Douglas Stuart (Grove Press)
7. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press)
8. Stitched by Eli McCann (Torrey House Press)
9. Fruit Fly by Josh Silver (Crooked Lane Books)
10. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower (Rhysdon Press)
11. Stoner by John Williams (NYRB Classics)
12. On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle, Barbara J. Haveland (Transl.) (New Directions)
13. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower (Rhysdon Press)
14. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3 by Beth Brower (Rhysdon Press)
15. Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel by Shuang-zi Yang (Graywolf Press)
16. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Grove Press)
17. I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney (Zibby Publishing)
18. Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy (David R. Godine Publisher)
19. Lights Out (Into Darkness Series #1) by Navessa Allen (Slowburn)
20. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4 by Beth Brower (Rhysdon Press)
21. Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman (Coffee House Press)
22. The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine (Grove)
23. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5 by Beth Brower (Rhysdon Press)
24. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6 by Beth Brower (Rhysdon Press)
25. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (Catapult)
26. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau)
27. The Overstory by Richard Powers (W.W. Norton)
28. Witch Hat Atelier 1 by Kamome Shirahama (Kodansha Comics)
29. The Employees by Olga Ravn (New Directions)
30. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Beacon Press)
31. Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Grove Press)
32. Writers & Lovers by Lily King (Grove Press)
33. Carmilla, Deluxe Edition: The Dark Sapphic Romance that Inspired Dracula by Sheridan Le Fanu (Pushkin Press)
34. Victorian Psycho: A Novel by Virginia Feito (Liveright)
35. Acid Green Velvet: A Novel by Grace Krilanovich (Two Dollar Radio)
36. The Eye of Goliath by Diego Muzzio (Pushkin Press)
37. The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo (Pushkin Vertigo)
38. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (Europa Editions)
39. A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck (Strange Violin Editions)
40. Slow Horses by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

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Isabela Reyes

Isabela Reyes

I write about books as quiet places where memory, imagination, and culture meet. At PLAI, I explore literature through reviews, author stories, reading reflections, and the small details that make a story stay with us long after the final page.