Neil Gaiman's new novel = boffo sales in Cambridge

Neil Gaiman’s new book “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” has already brought blockbuster sales to one Massachusetts bookstore. 

“Ocean,” which is due to be released June 18, follows an artist who comes back to his family’s home in England and remembers the events of many years ago which almost tore apart him and his family.

Gaiman, who is currently living in Cambridge, Mass., granted permission for only two booksellers to receive pre-orders of signed copies of his book: Barnes & Noble and the bookstore Porter Square Books, which is located in Cambridge.

And for Porter Square Books, the pre-orders alone have equaled more books sold than for any title co-owner Dale Szczeblowski has ever seen.

“We’ve never handled anything on this scale,” Szczeblowski told the Boston Herald. “We’ve never sold that many copies of any book in any place I’ve ever worked, and I’ve been in the business 30 years.”

Szczeblowski told the Herald that the store had sold 4,500 copies of the book so far.

“It’s better than Christmas,” he said.

The book was also recently named as one of the best titles of the summer by British newspaper The Guardian.

As noted by the Herald, Gaiman has been promoting the fact that signed copies of the book are available through Porter Square Books through his Twitter account for several months. 

“Reminder: US only,” the author tweeted on May 25. “You can order SIGNED copies of OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE via @PorterSqBooks.”