Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella, is published by Black Swan, priced £6.99

The film rights for Sophie Kinsella's new novel had been optioned by Paramount for a seven figure sum even before publication, with movie star Kate Hudson tipped to play the lead.

It's a dream scenario for the bubbly, best-selling author of the highly popular, light-hearted Shopaholic novels, and the prospect of meeting Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn's daughter, fills her with trepidation.

"I'll have to go on a diet before I meet her," she laughs.

The novel that has set Hollywood tongues wagging is Can You Keep A Secret? the tale of a nervous flier who divulges her innermost secrets to the man sitting next to her on a plane, during what she is convinced are going to be her last moments on earth.

She tells him about everything, from her business mistakes to her sex life, her Barbie duvet cover and her penchant for sweet sherry before a date.

Walking into work next day she is shocked to find that the world famous founder of her company is none other than her aeroplane confidant. It's a witty, clever read from the author of Shopaholic Ties The Knot.

"Kate Hudson is very fresh and young, with the most luminous face which lights up the screen and there's a wonderfully positive spirit about her. My main character, Emma, is also like that. And Kate will probably do comedy very well."

Sophie shares a few of Emma's traits, she admits: "I love sweet sherry and I always have a slug before I have my photo taken, to calm my nerves.

"In one scene, Emma is map reading and comments that there's a big river around London, only to realise that's it's the M25. That happened to me too."

Sophie, 33, also has a secret to share with her readers. Her real name is Madeleine Wickham, the name she uses when writing her best-selling Aga sagas which have included The Tennis Party, A Desirable Residence and Cocktails For Three.

She wrote her first Madeleine Wickham novel at the age of 24 but decided to write under a different name because the Kinsella novels are so different.

"Sophie is my middle name and Kinsella is my mother's maiden name. I'd been writing these Aga saga-style books but wanted to write something funny, young and girlie."

She wrote her first Kinsella book without telling the publisher her real name - and they liked it immediately.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Sophie didn't always know that she wanted to write. The daughter of two teachers, she was born in London and spent most of her adolescence in Dorset, where her parents bought a school.

She studied music at Oxford but after a year switched to politics, philosophy and economics.