A war time love story of a resistance heroine and a prisoner of war has sparked an international bidding war for the rights to New Zealand author Doug Gold’s book The Note Through the Wire.

Multiple publishers in the UK and Holland entered a bidding contest for the book, contracts have also been signed in Italy and Portugal with the possibility for further foreign language deal to come.

Published earlier this year, Doug’s book spent seven weeks at number one on the New Zealand non-fiction bestseller list, with 16 weeks on the list in total. It also made this year’s Whitcoulls top 100 list at number 33, just three months after publication.

The Note Through the Wire is the true love story of Doug’s parents in law, Yugoslav partisan heroine Josefine and New Zealand soldier Bruce set in Nazi occupied Europe during World War II.

Gold joined Andrew Dickens to discuss the book and his recent success.