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UK consumer book sales climbed 7% to £2.1bn last year as people rediscovered their love of reading in lockdown, the industry body says.
Demand for fiction and non-fiction jumped, while audio-book sales were up 37%, the Publishers Association said.
Bestsellers included The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo and 7 Ways by Jamie Oliver.
But educational book sales slumped as schools were shut for months.
Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association, said: It s clear that many people rediscovered their love of reading last year and that publishers were able to deliver the entertaining and thought-provoking books that so many of us needed.
Fiction sales surge during lockdown as audiobooks race ahead of print versions
New figures show audiobook sales rose last year by 37 per cent while print sales were down by six per cent
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