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A novel claimed to be by Charlotte Bronte is likely to be published in the United States in the autumn, it emerged yesterday. The world English- language rights to the novel Sarah Miles have been bought by the publishers Random House for an undisclosed sum.

"I am absolutely delighted," said Ian King, an Edinburgh book seller who has spent a year studying the novel. "It is definitely Charlotte Bronte - the evidence is convincing. I spent a year studying it, and it's pretty rock-solid." Giles Gordon, literary agent Mr King, said the book had already been published once in the US in 1990 under the title Miss Miles and in the name of Mary Taylor. It was written around 1845 - about 10 years before Charlotte Bronte's death. Many literary experts are reserving judgement until they see the book, discovered when Mr King came across an 1890 copy of Miss Miles by Mary Taylor. Jojo Moyes