Both working mothers and non-working mothers are saying: 'That's my life'

Alison Pearson

The column has been a hit for the newspaper and has even produced a postbag from readers who appear to believe that Kate Reddy is a real person.

Now Miramax has paid �700,000 for the film rights to Pearson's forthcoming Kate Reddy novel I Don't Know How She Does It.

Bridget Jones's diary, by Helen Fielding, started as a column in the Independent newspaper before selling millions of copies as a book worldwide.

Bridget Jones's Diary began life as a newspaper column

It went on to become a huge box office success starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.

Kate Reddy has so far appeared weekly in the Daily Telegraph since December 2000.

Its main character is 36 years old and works in asset management at Edwin Morgan Forster, a leading City investment firm.

She is a victim of the "time famine" that, the column says, afflicts millions of working mothers at the start of the 21st Century.

Telegraph features editor Richard Preston told BBC News Online: "She's touching a nerve - I think she's identified a particular group of women who are having these problems juggling their lives.

"The fictional character of Kate Reddy is rather privileged, but the problems of balancing marriage, motherhood and work are fairly universal now."

'Fantastic'

Preston, who commissioned the column from Alison Pearson, said that a number of readers were writing to Kate Reddy herself.

"We were careful to introduce the columns with Alison Pearson's byline in the first few weeks, but some readers appear to think she's real."

Pearson told the Daily Telegraph, "The reaction has been fantastic - both working mothers and non-working mothers are saying: 'That's my life'."

Pearson, who is also a columnist for the London Evening Standard, appears regularly on TV and radio.