SO remarkable has been the unlikely success of Lynne Truss's book about her obsession with punctuation, after years of non-recognition, that any article about her could reasonably be littered with exclamation marks.

However, as she's more a fan of the semi-colon and is a stickler for what's right in a sentence, she'd no doubt disapprove.

Lynne spent years toiling away, hunched in front of a PC, going glassy-eyed while thousands of words flew from her fingers. The results were published, but there was little or no recognition - other than from her agent - of her labours.

Suddenly, her work was discovered and lauded by critics and the book-buying public, who hailed her as nothing short of a heroine, a literary David - taking on the Goliaths of romantic, fantasy and crime writing fiction.

The following few months were spent doing interviews and book signings with the most common question being: "What's it like having such success with your first book?"

Lynne could be forgiven for bristling at the suggestion that she is viewed as an overnight hit when she'd spent years writing books.

The slightly eccentric woman, who lives in Brighton with her two cats, is the author of publishing phenomenon Eats, Shoots And Leaves. Nobody could have guessed that a book on punctuation could have been such a hit, but Truss is truly riding on the crest of a wave.

BUT she is no newcomer to the world of writing and has a backlist to prove it. Ahead of a visit to Manchester and Stockport today, the 49-year-old speaks of her sudden thrusting into the limelight. She says: "It's one of the nicest things that can happen to a writer. These books are very dear to me. I don't mind if they sell or not. It's just nice to be able to see them.

"The one thing that did annoy me is that people thought that Eats, Shoots And Leave was my first book. You can't write that kind of book without confidence. So to most people it was, 'where did that come from?' But I love these previous books and I'm pleased that more people will have the chance to read them."

Going Loco

The books in question are With One Lousy Free Packet Of Seed, Going Loco, Tennyson's Gift and Making The Cat Laugh. They draw on her experiences as a journalist and a newly single woman.

"My books are a bit batty," she says. "All my books are about being mad, although there is exaggeration." What her books also have in common is a sense of precision and wit, two characteristics that have endeared her to the public and to photographers.

"I bought a car and someone took a picture of me buying a car, there you go, there's a story. Woman buys car," she says with more than a little bemusement in her voice.

"I don't know. Is that interesting? It was a beautiful little Beetle convertible and I decided to treat myself." She claims not to know any celebrities, but she does have famous fans.

COMICS Alastair McGowan and Ronni Ancona were delighted to present her with the Book of the Year award - Truss beat David Beckham to the gong - and Judi Dench bought a job lot of the book for friends and family at Christmas.

Truss can afford to do more than treat herself - British sales of Eats, Shoots And Leaves have reached a million. She could hang up her pen.

"Whatever I do next, people will say that it's not as good as Eats ... or it won't sell as many copies, but in a way I'm free to do what I like. I don't want to write anything in the same mould. It would be naff to follow it up."

Certainly, the experience of writing Eats, Shoots And Leaves has left a mark on her.

"I grew to love the colon while I was writing this book," she says. "And I like semi-colons, too. They're more elegant than commas, which sometimes don't do the job."

Lynne Truss was signing books at Waterstone's, Deansgate, today at 12.30pm and is at Borders, the Peel Centre, Stockport, tonight at 7.30pm.