A MUM-of-two’s literary dreams have finally come true after her debut novel was picked up by a new digital first romance imprint of publishing giant HarperCollins.

Sarah Lefebve has signed a two-book deal with the imprint, HarperImpulse, which was created earlier this year to target the growing Kindle and e-reader market.

Sarah is one of 15 authors signed so far, and her eBook The Park Bench Test will be published today.

If it sells a certain amount of copies, it will be available in the future in paperback, and her as-yet untitled second book will be published in the same way next year.

A former journalist, 38-year-old Sarah, who lives in Rooksdown, Basingstoke, and used to work at The Gazette as a reporter, wrote The Park Bench Test after leaving the media industry to pursue an alternative career.

Sarah explained: “I started writing fiction in my spare time and I realised it was much more fun making things up than sticking to the facts as I had been doing in journalism.”

The novel is the tale of aspiring journalist Becky Harper and her friends Emma and Katie, and centres on the issue of ‘Mr Right’.

Sarah interviewed her own friends and family about how they knew they had found this elusive man, and then turned their answers into her book.

She said: “I heard about the new imprint on the writers’ circuit so I spent the day in the library to refresh my memory and made a few tweaks to the manuscript before sending it off to HarperCollins.

“I then had an email from Harper-Impulse publisher Charlotte Ledger, saying she'd started reading it and loved it.

“We spoke the next day and I was offered a two-book deal. I was absolutely buzzing when I came off the phone.

“The thought of my book being out there for people to read was just so exciting, and something I'd only been able to dream of. To see a front cover with my name on it is just a dream come true.”

The Park Bench Test is available to order now via harper impulseromance.com.