Because the latest to step right up to the deal plate is Catherine Sanderson, whose blog Le Petite Anglaise caused a furore this past summer when her employers, the accountancy firm Dixon Wilson, decided to fire her for what she said on the blog - even though she never named them directly. And so, the Bookseller reports, Katy Follain at Michael Joseph/Penguin signed Sanderson up in a two-book deal, paying a sum approaching the mid six figures. The deal was done after a heated auction conducted by Simon Trewin and Sarah Ballard at PFD.

Follain describes Sanderson as "a very talented writer, one that we are very keen to build so that she becomes a household name with Petite Anglaise and future books." PETITE ANGLAISE will be published in the UK in the spring of 2008, and will also be published by Spiegel & Grau in the US and with Doubleday in Canada, through Zoe Pagnamenta at PFD New York. RCS/Sonzogno has also bought rights through Nicki Kennedy at ILA.