Sara Gruen’s runaway bestselling novel, Water for Elephants, was published 10 years ago, on May 26, 2006. A full decade after he helped give us all a home underneath the big top, we asked executive editor Chuck Adams to share his memories of how he — and the rest of — ran away with the circus:

I knew when I first read the novel in the early summer of 2004 that it had strong sales potential. It was easily one of the most satisfying and entertaining works that I had read since I took a position as editor at Algonquin Books earlier that year. But I had no idea that 10 years after publication we would have sold more than 8 million copies in both print and e-book formats in the United States and that it would have been translated into more than 30 languages and sold in more than 45 countries.

Water for Elephants is, quite simply, the most successful publication in my career (we’re talking over four decades here) and has also garnered the greatest sales of any book published by Algonquin. I would love to say that it was my brilliance as editor that made all this happen, but in truth the publication of WFE was a great example of teamwork, with a marketing director who put together a masterful plan to get the book into as many outlets as possible, a publicity director who understood the readership for the novel and worked tirelessly to make those readers aware of the book, and a publishing and sales team that made all the right decisions.

But, of course, none of these things would have mattered if Sara Gruen had not written such a brilliant novel, with the kind of story that will appeal to readers of all kinds, including — and this was my favorite thing about the novel — not one, but two happy endings. So happy 10th birthday to all involved, most especially Sara and her wonderful, unforgettable characters, Jacob, Marlena, August (Hiss! Boo!) and, my personal favorite, Rosie.

The chances are high that I’ll never get to edit another book as exciting as this in my career, and I am so very fortunate that Water for Elephants came my way, and so very thankful for the Algonquin team.

Chuck Adams