Despite U.S. Republicans’ best efforts, the Epstein files have been back in the news, which has propelled the posthumous memoir by Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre back to the top of the original non-fiction list.
In “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice,” Giuffre — who took her own life in April 2025 — recounts being sexually trafficked to powerful men in Jeffrey Epstein’s social circle.
Her book is followed on the list by a very different memoir. In “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic,” Bunnie Xo — real name Alisa DeFord — tells what publisher HarperCollins calls “a rags to riches story for the social media age.”
DeFord went from being an abused runaway selling drugs in a Las Vegas trailer park to a successful podcaster, YouTuber and owner of her own production company. (She also happens to be the wife of country rapper Jelly Roll.)
Celebrated author Kate Quinn is back on the original fiction list. Known primarily for her historical novels, including her Second World War books “The Rose Code” and “The Alice Network,” Quinn takes a departure into fantasy for “The Astral Library.”
Its heroine, Alexandra “Alix” Watson, discovers a hidden part of the Boston Public Library where readers can live in the pages of the books. She and the ageless Librarian end up escaping into Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle novels, among others, when they’re pursued by an enemy.
In Canadian fiction, it’s still pretty much all Rachel Reid all the time, with all six of her “Game Changers” queer hockey romances topping the list once again.
One new addition is “The Cure for Drowning” by Loghan Paylor. The 2024 queer romance takes its first bow at No. 9, no doubt because it’s on the short list for this year’s CBC Canada Reads competition, championed by musician Tegan Quinn.
1. Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina
2. The Long Game, Rachel Reid, Carina
3. Game Changer, Rachel Reid, Carina
4. Tough Guy, Rachel Reid, Carina
5. Role Model, Rachel Reid, Carina
6. Common Goal, Rachel Reid, Carina
7. Love Poems, Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel
8. The Winter Witch, Jennifer Chevalier, Simon & Schuster
9. The Cure for Drowning, Loghan Paylor, Random House Canada
10. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart
1. The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton, Financial Awareness
2. Values, Mark Carney, Signal
3. Book of Lives, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart
4. Attention Seeker, Darcy Michael, DK
5. If Only Love, Shelley Saywell, Random House Canada
6. Sorry, Not Sorry, Mark Critch, Viking
7. The First Survivor, Lisa Banfield, Sherri Aikenhead, Maureen Banfield, Sutherland House
8. North of Normal, Cea Sunrise Person, HarperCollins Canada
9. The Smiling Land, Alan Doyle, Doubleday Canada
10. Vanished Beyond the Map, Adam Shoalts, Allen Lane
1. Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina (8)*
2. The Long Game, Rachel Reid, Carina (7)
3. Game Changer, Rachel Reid, Carina (6)
4. Dear Debbie, Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen (3)
5. Two Can Play, Ali Hazelwood, Berkeley (1)
6. The Astral Library, Kate Quinn, William Morrow (1)
7. Tough Guy, Rachel Reid, Carina (4)
8. Role Model, Rachel Reid, Carina (3)
9. Throne of Nightmares, Kerri Maniscalco, Little, Brown (1)
10. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown (6)
1. Nobody’s Girl, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Knopf (16)
2. Stripped Down, Bunnie Xo, Dey Street (1)
3. The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton, Financial Awareness (12)
4. Enough, Oprah Winfrey, Ania M. Jastreboff, Avid Reader (5)
5. Book of Lives, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart (14)
6. Attention Seeker, Darcy Michael, DK (4)
7. If Only Love, Shelley Saywell, Random House Canada (3)
8. The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt, Penguin (65)
9. 1929, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Viking (12)
10. Sorry, Not Sorry, Mark Critch, Viking (7)
1. Big Jim Believes (Dog Man #14), Dav Pilkey, Graphix
2. Little Blue Truck’s Valentine, Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry, Clarion
3. Talons of Power (Wings of Fire #9), Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes, Graphix
4. For the Fans! (KPop Demon Hunters), Angela Song, Golden Books
5. Partypooper (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #20), Jeff Kinney, Amulet
6. A Waffle Lot of Love (Narwhal and Jelly #10), Ben Clanton, Tundra
7. Dr. Seuss’s Who Loves You?, Dr. Seuss, Random House Books for Young Readers
8. Happy Valentine’s Day, Little Critter!, Mercer Mayer, HarperCollins
9. Love You Forever, Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw, Firefly
10. Unicorn Secrets, Dana Simpson, Andrews McMeel
1. The Housemaid, Freida McFadden, Grand Central
2. The Housemaid’s Secret, Freida McFadden, Quercus
3. Cross and Sampson, James Patterson, Brian Sitts, Little, Brown
4. The Housemaid Is Watching, Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen
5. It Should Have Been You, Andrea Mara, Doubleday Canada
6. Antihero, Gregg Hurwitz, Minotaur
7. The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, Celadon
8. The Inmate, Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen
9. Cold Zero, Brad Thor, Ward Larsen, Atria/Emily Bestler
10. The Intruder, Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen
The bestseller lists are compiled by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited from information provided by BookNet Canada’s national sales tracking service, BNC SalesData.