THE FIRST novel by a farmer??s wife has become a publishing sensation with scarce copies trading on the web for as much as ??2,000.

Only 225 hardback copies of The Valley of Secrets were printed last year because the author, Charmian Hussey, failed to find a big publisher. But following a magazine review, collectors have been bidding furiously believing it may be a children??s story to rival Harry Potter.

While the signed hardback retails at ??16.99, several buyers have paid more than ??1,000 and one twice that amount. The fevered buying has brought the book to the attention of top publishers. Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber, Random House, HarperCollins and Hodder are all expected to make bids this week.

Hussey, a 64-year-old former model who lives near Liskeard in Cornwall, was inspired by her son when he was 12. ??Nicholas created these fantasy animals who came from the Amazon forest,?? she said. ??He, like me, feels very strongly about the environment and dangers to it.??

But the resulting novel ?? which has been compared to Frances Hodgson Burnett??s classic The Secret Garden ?? was anything but an instant success when completed in 1987. The story of a child in a mysterious house in Cornwall who finds his great-uncle??s journal of his trip up the Amazon, did not woo publishers.

Hussey waited a decade before renewing her attempts to find a publisher, eventually making an impression with the tiny Saint Piran Press, which printed hardbacks last autumn and 3,000 softbacks.

The book sold quite well, with all the hardbacks being snapped up by late October. But it was a review in Country Life by Robin Hanbury-Tenison, the explorer, which gave it a real lift.

When this was followed by praise on the internet, dealers began to realise it was going to be a hit. ??I??d missed out on the first Harry Potter and Philip Pullman and was determined not to do so again,?? said Philip Gillis, a collector from Watford. ??It??s beautifully written ?? a throwback to the stories in vogue in the 1950s and 1960s.??

But it was only in the past two weeks that the price started to soar. Collector Nigel Eastman sold one for ??1,030 and yesterday another went up for sale at ??1,400.

Hussey has been bemused by her belated success. ??It??s quite extraordinary that it??s selling for such prices but I still think it??s the reader which is most important.??

Saint Piran Press is printing another 1,000 hardbacks and 3,000 softbacks in mid-March. Whichever large publisher then steps in will probably bring out at least 30,000.

Some of the 300 first print run of Harry Potter and the Philosopher??s Stone now fetch ??25,000.

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