Apologies for the very online media headline. Old habits die hard, I guess.
In news that I think will make book nerds very happy, it appears that the youth still read. A rather vintage mystery book is having a renaissance after one woman started sharing her efforts to solve it.
Cain’s Jawbone, by Edward Powys Mathers under the name “Torquemada,” is like one of those choose-your-own-adventure books where everything is out of order, except there’s only one adventure and good fucking luck figuring it out. Basically, it’s a puzzle book. It’s the reader’s job to rearrange the pages in the right order, piece together the story, and solve some murders.
It’s also apparently super hard. The original book was published in 1934. Reportedly, only three people have solved it since it was published and it’s a big enough deal when someone does that it makes headlines.
Frankly to me this sounds like a very niche sort of hell, but I get the appeal for others. It’s a whodunnit with a ton of extra steps to see who, indeed, dunnit.
So, back to TikTok. One woman, @sararuuuuuuugh, has decided to piece together Cain’s Jawbone and document it on TikTok.
She’s now posting updates showing the pages taped up in her bedroom and getting into some interesting discussions about the book (spoiler free, of course).
What’s very interesting to me is that Sarah’s first TikTok about the “nearly impossible task” that prompted her to make a “murder board” now has over a million likes and some 4.8 million views.
We all know that the strangest things can go viral on TikTok but I can admit that an esoteric literary puzzle wouldn’t have been on my list of predictions.
What’s also very cool is that Sarah’s efforts have clearly inspired others, as the book is selling out all over the place.
Sarah shared that she bought her copy at Green Apple Books in San Francisco, an indie shop. A spokesperson for the store told me they were “swamped” with orders after Sarah gave them a shout out.
“Yes, we did notice a serious spike in sales,” they told me.
“One of our store owners was quoted saying it's the first instance of us selling out of a book from a viral TikTok. The publisher and our distributor both sold out too, as did Amazon, last time I checked.”
I also reached out to the published, Unbound, who have been getting so many requests about this that they prepared a press release. According to them, their entire stock of Cain’s Jawbone on their own site sold out in 24 hours.
They also noted it went to #1 at Indigo (Canada’s largest book chain) where it’s still sold out online. I also noticed it’s sold out on Amazon Canada.
“Orders in the USA have surpassed 10K in open back orders and over 3K in orders in Canada,” the press release says.
They’re now working on reprinting 10,000 copies.
Co-founder and publisher of Unbound, John Mitchinson said, “It’s always nice when a publishing idea from another age suddenly finds itself fashionable again.”
Half the publisher’s profits from the sales spike are going to The Laurence Sterne Trust, so it’s a feel good story all around.
I know more than a few of you out there love a viral literary moment. Truly I wish I could go back in time and tell the author of Cain’s Jawbone that his book is sold out internationally thanks to a little video on a handheld computer.
There’s a theme out there that new generations are reading less and less and that will lead to brainrot or whatever. I’ve never bought into this. Spending all day on a phone or computer basically means spending all day reading. Fan fiction is still alive and well. YA novels are still big business. Every time I open Twitter, someone else has a book deal. Teens and young adults read! And now, they’re reading Cain’s Jawbone. And that’s pretty cool.
As for Sarah, she’s still working through it, so follow her for updates.