The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 1966 The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 1966 This is a list of adult fiction books that topped "The New York Times" Fiction Best Seller list in 1966. Only three novels topped the list that year, which was dominated by Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls" which spent 28 weeks at the top of the list and 65 weeks in the top 10. "Valley" was toppled by Robert Crichton's "The Secret of Santa Vittoria", a World War II story based on fact, which sold more than 100,000 copies in the first month of its release. It spent 18 weeks
Dolores (Susann novel) author's mother, Rose Susann (1892-1981). As always with Jacqueline Susann's novels, the critics were harsh. A reviewer for "The New York Times" wrote, "The novel is a fanzine version of clippings and rumors... The writing is sluggish and the plot limp." The reading public nonetheless embraced the book: the hardcover spent 25 weeks on the "New York Times" best seller list, peaking at #2 for seven consecutive weeks, and becoming the third highest-selling novel of 1976, behind just Leon Uris's "Trinity" and Agatha Christie's final book, "Sleeping Murder". The 1978 Bantam edition reached #1 on the "Times" paperback list. Dolores