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Tricia Walker sparked unprecedented interest at the launch night of her debut novel - Benedict’s Brother - at Borders in York in May. It sold almost 200 copies in just two hours - unprecedented for a debut author according to the store. As a result, the store is hosting two more signings: on Saturday 8th September, and at Borders Birstall on Saturday 22nd.
Walker said: ‘I am bowled over by the response. I’ve had so many people contact me to say how much they’ve enjoyed it. The feedback means so much to me, especially as the book was rejected by publishers eight years ago when I first wrote it.’
She always believed she’d written a book worth publishing, so decided to launch Benedict’s Brother herself in fortnightly instalments as an internet blog last August. She wrote it after she inherited some money in her uncle’s will that allowed her travel half way round the world and visit the brother she had not seen for years - which inspired her to write the story, which centres on a woman who discovers her uncle’s past as a Japanese prisoner of war and meets her long lost brother who is now a Buddhist monk in Thailand. The blog generated interest from all over the globe, and people started to ask to buy it as a book. So Walker approached her sister, Sarah Smelik, a writer and publisher, to help put the story into print. Smelik, who owns Coppice Publishing, said: ‘Our original print run was going to be 500. We sold two thirds of that in the first month and orders are still coming in. I think we could be looking at a second run soon. It’s a great achievement for a first publication.’
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