I have five columns I would like to auto filter. However, in one of the
columns, I have a vertical group of rows where I need to keep data together
in a group, but sort by one of the other column criteria. The columns next
to this group are merged across the cells making up the group.

As an example, in the case of a worksheet about books, I have one column
group made up of three vertical cells including Book Title, Date published
and publisher name. In the other three columns next to this, I have author
name, genre and number of pages. I would like to sort using auto-filter by
genre, but keep the group of three vertical cells Book Title, Date Published
and Publisher Name together in a group as the data is filtered.

Is this possible in excel? Is there a better way to do this?