By KATHERINE HOBY
It might not have arrived with the flash and flurry of Harry Potter, but a biography of New Zealand writer Janet Frame seems to have cast a spell over bookstores nationwide.
Michael King's biography Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame has forced publisher Penguin Books to schedule a second printing just a week after the book hit store shelves.
The phenomenally popular children's book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire caused huge queues and worldwide tension leading up to its release.
The second print run of Wrestling with the Angel is believed to be about 6500, after the first run of 7000.
Publishing director Geoff Walker said the sales had caught Penguin by surprise.
"It has been quite an extraordinary and unexpected response for us," he said.
"It was sold out from our warehouse in four days and is a seriously big seller for us."
Mr Walker said people seemed to realise that the biography was "a magnificent book about our most celebrated writer."
"It is also a very good-looking book, a beautiful object. It has been said it is the grown-ups' version of Harry Potter in terms of how well it has sold."
James Belich's The New Zealand Wars sold about 20,000 copies. It also spawned a television series.
Paul Holmes' autobiography sold 25,000 copies in about five months.
Whitcoulls spokeswoman Joan Mackenzie said the Frame book came into stores last Friday morning.
"By Friday afternoon I was putting in another order."
Wrestling with the Angel had sold 1000 copies nationwide in six days, she said.
"We are delighted with it."
Whitcoulls had sold about 30,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ms Mackenzie suspected that that number of copies could have sold in the first week if they had been available.
"But we are talking about a different prospect with the Frame book. It is a big book, an adult book and a big outlay for a book."
Whitcoulls tried to keep the price down - at $39.95 - to make it available to as many readers as possible.
Ms Mackenzie said she had felt real confidence that the biography would do well, but was surprised at the speed of the sales.
"I can't think of another New Zealand-published book that has sold with such velocity.
"It shows in what regard so many local readers hold Janet Frame."
Borders Books and Music spokeswoman Eileen Joy said Wrestling with the Angel was "walking off the shelves."
"It is a brilliant book and is selling exceedingly well.
"It's so refreshing to have such a good adult title exceeding expectations," she said.
Borders was selling the "handsome" hardback for $49.95.
To buy the book online from FlyingPig
Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
New Zealand Wars
Holmes: the Autobiography
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