Until now Barnes, 60, has often been dismissive of United States culture, using the word “Americanised” as a term of reproach and preferring to spend time in Europe.

But last week he became the first British writer of adult fiction in a generation to take the number one slot on the list, the most influential chart outside New York, with his account of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s role in helping to clear the name of an Indian doctor in 1903 Staffordshire.

Barnes’s hero, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, now faces a challenge from hordes of mobile- phone-crazed zombies unleashed in Stephen King’s new frightener, Cell. The new list is out today.

Film agents have been stampeded into action by a casual remark attributed to the colourful impresario Harvey Weinstein, producer of Shakespeare in Love and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, that the book is “an Oscar waiting to be filmed”.

“At first everyone thought it was another gay love story, like Brokeback Mountain only amongst the British toff set, but then people realised it was just a great story,” said an agent working for a studio that is considering making Barnes a “seven-figure” advance for the film rights.

Beth Bingham, a spokeswoman for Borders, one of America’s leading book chains, described Arthur & George as the most unexpected British hit since J K Rowling’s Harry Potter books.

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