Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1940s
This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1940s, as determined by Publishers Weekly. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1940 through 1949.[1]
The standards set for inclusion in the lists – which, for example, lead to the exclusion of the novels in the Harry Potter series from the lists for the 1990s and 2000s – are currently unknown.
1940
- How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
- Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley
- Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- The Nazarene by Sholem Asch
- Stars on the Sea by F. Van Wyck Mason
- Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- Night in Bombay by Louis Bromfield
- The Family by Nina Fedorova
1941
- The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin
- Random Harvest by James Hilton
- This Above All by Eric Knight
- The Sun Is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen
- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts
- H. M. Pulham, Esquire by John P. Marquand
- Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick
- Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber
- Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase
1942
- The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
- The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
- Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck
- And Now Tomorrow by Rachel Field
- Drivin' Woman by Elizabeth Pickett
- Windswept by Mary Ellen Chase
- The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
- The Sun Is My Undoing by Marguerite Steen
- Kings Row by Henry Bellamann
- The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin
1943
- The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
- The Valley of Decision by Marcia Davenport
- So Little Time by John P. Marquand
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
- Mrs. Parkington by Louis Bromfield
- The Apostle by Sholem Asch
- Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
- The Forest and the Fort by Hervey Allen
- The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
1944
- Strange Fruit by Lillian Smith
- The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
- The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
- The Green Years by A. J. Cronin
- Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames Williams
- Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge
- A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
- The Apostle by Sholem Asch
1945
- Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
- The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas
- The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
- The White Tower by James Ramsey Ullman
- Cass Timberlane by Sinclair Lewis
- A Lion Is in the Streets by Adria Locke Langley
- So Well Remembered by James Hilton
- Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger
- Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham
- Immortal Wife by Irving Stone
1946
- The King's General by Daphne du Maurier
- This Side of Innocence by Taylor Caldwell
- The River Road by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
- The Hucksters by Frederic Wakeman, Sr.
- The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby
- Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque
- The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
- B.F.'s Daughter by John P. Marquand
- The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward
1947
- The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney
- The Moneyman by Thomas B. Costain
- Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson
- Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts
- The Vixens by Frank Yerby
- The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
- House Divided by Ben Ames Williams
- Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis
- East Side, West Side by Marcia Davenport
- Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger
1948
- The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
- The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
- Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- The Bishop's Mantle by Agnes Sligh Turnbull
- Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
- The Golden Hawk by Frank Yerby
- Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr.
- Shannon's Way by A. J. Cronin
- Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge
- The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
1949
- The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
- The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
- Mary by Sholem Asch
- A Rage to Live by John O'Hara
- Point of No Return by John P. Marquand
- Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
- High Towers by Thomas B. Costain
- Cutlass Empire by F. Van Wyck Mason
- Pride's Castle by Frank Yerby
- Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter
References
- ^ Hackett, Alice Payne and Burke, James Henry (1977). 80 Years of Bestsellers: 1895–1975. New York: R. R. Bowker Company. pp. 129–151. ISBN 0-8352-0908-3.
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