Wisconsin farm tale Oprah's book club choice

Oprah Winfrey has annointed a debut novel by a 48-year-old software developer from Colorado as her next book club choice.

David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is sure to be arunaway hit after the endorsement of the daytime talk show host.

Released in June, it has already had strong reviews and sales, partly due to word of mouth and a cover blurb by Stephen King.

The story follows a mute boy growing up on a farm in rural Wisconsin, where his family raises a rare breed of dogs. The novel, written sometimes from the point of view of the dogs, has a plot inspired by Hamlet, with the boy setting out to avenge the death of his father.

Reviewers praised it for eschewing sentimentality in favour of strong story-telling. A review in O magazine calls it a "classic in the making."

On hershow Friday,Winfrey called itthe "best novel I've read in a long, long, long time."

"I think this book is right up there with the greatest American novels ever written, I really do," she said, comparing the writing toJohn Steinbeck and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

Wroblewski worked on the 500-page book for more than a decade.