Author's joy at joining special list

Not even a lottery win could compare with a Birmingham author's joy at having his latest book selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club.

Thriller writer Roger Ellory's latest novel A Quiet Belief in Angels has been selected as one of just 10 books from around 700 to make the couple's 2008 list.

Mr Ellory dropped into Waterstone's in Walsall at the weekend to meet fans, discuss his career and sign copies of his bestselling book.

The 42-year-old, who spent 15 years writing before he got a publishing deal, said finding out he had made the book club list last December was an amazing feeling.

"I had a rush of excitement for three weeks after I found out – it was a better feeling than winning the lottery," he said. "For me it is not about money but the sense of tremendous accomplishment. It is comparable to say training, training and training to get into the British Olympics squad or working so hard to make the Manchester United football team."

Mr Ellory, who publishes under the name RJ Ellory, said: "I knew from an early age I wanted to be creative and I enjoyed literature but you never think it is going to you who gets the lucky break."

The author, who hails from Bordesley Green, first started writing in November 1987 but after after failing to make a breakthrough and suffering hundreds of rejections he stopped in 1993. Once the frustration had subsided he got his pen and paper out again in 2001 and was soon snapped up by publishers Orion who he remains with today. It was his editor Jon Wood who broke the news of making the Richard and Judy Book Club list just hours after Mr Ellory had been to the dentist to have root canal work.

A Quiet Belief in Angels is the fifth crime novel he has penned and it is set in America in the 1950s where a teenager attempts to protect his community from a series of killings.

The Richard and Judy Book Club has enjoyed phenomenal success since its launch in 2004 and helps promote relatively unknown authors into bestsellers.