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. 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