Around late 1999, just before my Book Firehead was published in Australia, a literary agent in the US went a bit nuts for that manuscript and started something of a bidding war among publishers based in NYC. In the end I think eight major publishers made good offers and he advised me to go with Hyperion as they were (a) mid-sized, so I wouldn’t get lost in their lists, and (b) they seemed the most passionate about this work.

The Hyperion ed. suggested a chance of title, so Firehead became Gabriella’s Book of Fire. The novel was published under its original name in Australia, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Israel (maybe that’s all of them) but remains with the latter name in the USA.

I think it’s my bestselling book to date.