fourth spot on Amazon’s bestseller lists, Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom – detailed pictures of animals to colour – sits in seventh and a mindfulness colouring book sits in ninth. Basford’s titles are in second and eighth place – that’s half of Amazon.co.uk’s top ten taken up by colouring books for adults. At independent UK publisher Michael O’Mara, which has sold almost 340,000 adult colouring books to date, Head of Publicity, Marketing and Online, Ana McLaughlin, attributes the craze to the way the category has been reimagined as a means of relaxation. “The first one we did was in 2012, Creative Colouring for Grown-Ups . It sold strongly and reprinted but it was in 2014 that it all really mushroomed with Art Therapy . It really took off for us – selling the anti-stress angle gave people permission to enjoy something they might have felt was quite childish,” she said. The Mindfulness Colouring Book pushes this perspective particularly strongly, with its publisher telling readers that it is “filled with templates for exquisite scenes and intricate, sophisticated patterns, prompting you to meditate on your artwork as you mindfully and creatively fill these pages with colour ”, and urging potential colourers to “take a few minutes out of your day, wherever you are, and colour your way to peace and calm ”. “I think it is really relaxing to do