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Debut writer's million-pound success story
Rights to teacher's novel snapped up
Kate O'Hara
IT is the kind of story which could have been lifted straight from the pages of one of her fictional tales.
A Yorkshire French teacher has just had the rights to her first novel snapped up by UK publishers for an estimated 800,000, the US auction for the book has risen above one million dollars, and eight translation deals have already been signed.
Diane Setterfield's highly sought-after The Thirteenth Tale is also expected to attract the attention of film-makers once it appears in print next September.
The novel's mysterious, gothic style is even being compared to classic novels such as Jane Eyre and Rebecca, as well as contemporary bestsellers Fingersmith and The Shadow of the Wind.
The publishing deal, by Orion, is one of the biggest fiction debuts of the year.
Speaking to the Yorkshire Post from her home in Harrogate, the author said that although the novel was only just about to be published, she had had the idea for it about five years ago.
"I thought of the idea and scribbled some notes down, which were then put in a draw and stayed there for a very long time. When I took them out I wrote my first draft.
"Later I made some major changes and I was very happy with it.
"Luckily, when I attended the writing course I took down notes on everything about how to get an agent and send off work to publishers.
"After that things moved quite quickly," she said.
The novel follows a reclusive famous author as she tells her life story to a biographer, and is described as a "compelling emotional mystery about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling".
She said she feels honoured to have done so well, so quickly.
"If you ask anybody who has ever thought of writing a book how they feel about getting their work published, they will tell you that nothing could be more thrilling.
"Any serious writer would view it as an enormous privilege to be able to devote the best of their time to what they love, and that's what I'll now be able to do," she said.
The writer, who is in her forties, used to be an academic specialising in 19th and 20th century French literature, particularly the works of Andr Gide, but gave up academia after taking a writing course, where she was spotted by the novelist Jim Crace.
At the moment, she is still doing her day job of teaching French to people who are locating across the Channel.
"I read French literature almost exclusively for more than a decade, so when I left academia, I really wanted to go back to the English classics which I was loved so much as a teenager. It was very nostalgic for me to write in that sort of style."
She is not the only Yorkshire writer to have enjoy massive success. Joanne Harris, best-selling author of Chocolat, was also a French teacher in Yorkshire before becoming a full time writer.
Ms Harris, born in Barnsley, taught French at Leeds Grammar School for 12 years. Her novel was a worldwide hit and was made into a Hollywood film starring Juliet Binoche and Johnny Depp.
Jane Wood, Orion Books editor-in-chief, said: "I knew from the very first page it was special – she creates a wonderful fictional world. It's a book for book lovers, but also a real page turner."
Setterfield, already working on her second novel, said: "Of course I'm very happy with how it all seems to be going yet but nobody has bought a copy yet. All the success so far is lovely, but the real acid test will be September when it gets into the shops."
kate.o'hara@ypn.co.uk
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