By Gemma Lougheed - 27th April 2005
The EU constitution has become a surprise bestseller on the French book charts.
The French publishing world has never seen a phenomenon quite like it.
More than 500,000 guides dedicated to explaining the EU constitutional treaty have already been sold in France.
The week of April 11 saw four books in the top seven bestsellers.
This put ‘Le petit guide de la constitution europeenne’ (published by La Documentation francaise) just behind Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’, the bestselling book of all time.
The text of the constitutional treaty is dense, difficult to read and understand, and so it seems that explanations have been welcomed.
Another reason that such guides are in demand is that the French public authorities have not yet actually released the text.
The final vote is less than a month away and clearly the French public want to be better informed before voting.
The guides vary in price, ranging from €1.50 to €22.50.
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