When books are published internationally, it’s not uncommon for the titles to be changed depending on the audience. This makes sense from the point of view from the publishing industry, but it can be confusing for readers. They often know and love a book by a specific title, or book cover.
A well-known example from one of the best-selling book series of all time is the first Harry Potter book. In the United States, it was published as
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, but in England the title was
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
The following five books are just like that—they’re the same book but with different titles, and they appear here first by their U.S. name.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
This super popular saga from author Stephenie Meyer spawned several hit movies and star-making roles for actors Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart, who played the main characters, star-crossed lovers Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan. It was a tale including vampires, werewolves, and humans.
Twilight was the first book in the series, followed by
New Moon,
Eclipse, and
Breaking Dawn. The books were translated into several languages. And for the French translation, the title
Twilight was changed to
Fascination.
The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison has written great books like
Beloved,
The Bluest Eye, and
Song of Solomon. She
died in New York earlier this year, and her absence is already being felt. Readers and the publishing community alike mourned her. Morrison was a Nobel Laureate.
Her book
The Source of Self-Regard, has an alternative title:
Untitled Essays, with the cover text
Mouth of Blood. This nonfiction collection includes explorations of death, social issues, and culture.
After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
Writer Agatha Christie is well-known for her detective novels, and she’s one of the
bestselling novelists of all time. The author of 66 detective novels, Christie also wrote 14 short story collections, and was a playwright.
Her works include
The Man in the Brown Suit;
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd;
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas; and
Dead Man’s Folly. Several of her books have different titles, and
After the Funeral is one of them. The other title is
Funerals are Fatal.
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
According to
Hill’s website, a lot of his writing explores identity and belonging. He grew up in Canada, the son of a black father and a white mother from the United States.
So far, Hill has written ten books, some of which are novels while others are nonfiction. Some of the awards that he’s received are: the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book.
His novel
Someone Knows My Name has also been published as
The Book of Negroes. The book is about Aminata Diallo, an African child that escapes slavery in the U.S. Over time, she further sees the toll of injustice, as she travels internationally. The television network BET is adapting this story for television.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
writes children’s books, and His Dark Materials is his most famous fantasy trilogy. It’s made up of the books
The Golden Compass (Book 1),
The Subtle Knife (Book 2), and
The Amber Spyglass (Book 3).
The first book has another title, which is
Northern Lights. In this story, there is a mix of human and animal characters. The protagonist Lyra tries to help a friend, and must deal with her scary uncle. Amazon cites that the book has been published in 40 countries.
Pullman is now at work on The Book of Dust series, which is connected to the trilogy.
