KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Dolly Parton’s first novel, “Run, Rose, Run,” co-written with bestselling author James Patterson, debuted Monday at No. 1 on Amazon’s Best Sellers book list.
The Southern fiction thriller was released just a few days after its companion album by the same name came out Friday.
The Amazon Best Sellers list includes the top 100 most popular books being sold on Amazon.
“Run, Rose, Run” tells the story of a young rising singer-songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, who sings about the hard life behind her. She’s also on the run from her past, according to the novel synopsis.
Another East Tennessee native, country singer Kelsea Ballerini has joined Parton for the “Run, Rose, Run” audiobook version of the novel by voicing one of the novel’s characters.
Both Parton and Patterson appeared Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and Parton cheered, “yay!” at the news of their co-authored novel reaching No. 1 on Amazon’s list.
“We’re celebrating, man,” Patterson said during the GMA interview.
“Number one – yay!” Parton said.
Apart from offering compliments to Patterson for his writing, Parton said during the GMA interview that she saw herself in many of the novel’s characters and how she related to the strong female characters.
The novel is Parton’s first. Her love of books and sharing stories has been a long practice of hers for decades. Parton has often said in interviews and in her 2020 book, “Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics,” that songwriting was like telling stories from her time growing up in East Tennessee as well as later in her career as she gained new experiences.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has been an ongoing passion project for the superstar since its 1995 launch in Sevier County. The nonprofit expanded to offer books to children across the country and then internationally. By 2020, the nonprofit had gifted its 150 millionth book.
Parton and Ballerini will take to the stage at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas to perform one of the singles from the “Run, Rose, Run” album. Parton is also co-hosting the awards show.
A virtual book tour for “Run, Rose, Run: A Novel” kicked off Sunday.