Ooh la la: blogger sacked from Paris job signs six-figure deal

When Catherine Sanderson's life as a single mother and Paris-based secretary was turned upside down by a few sentences on her blog, she mused that writing a book about the ordeal would be the "silver lining to a cloud".

Yesterday, the 34-year-old who shot to internet-based fame last year as La Petite Anglaise was putting the finishing touches to her first manuscript for a six-figure book deal and discussing a film of her life as a hassled ex-patriate with a colourful love life.

It is a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of Ms Sanderson, who 10 months ago found herself unemployed with a young daughter and a hobby which resulted in her being sacked for "gross misconduct".

When the La Petite Anglaise website began in 2004, it was described by its author as a "whim", offering a Bridget Jones-style look at life as a highly qualified personal assistant and mother of a bilingual toddler in France.

But her employer, the Anglo-French accountancy firm Dixon Wilson, saw things differently, despite not being named on the blog by Ms Sanderson, who also withheld her identity. The City company, which offers a "personal service to wealthy individuals and their businesses" claimed it had been brought into disrepute by Ms Sanderson's online postings, in which she revealed it had a portrait of the Queen in its entrance hall and served Tetley tea.

As news of her dismissal last April spread online, daily visits to the petiteanglaise.com blog rose from 3,000 to 30,000. Amid a welter of publicity on both sides of the Channel, an auction resulted in Penguin signing a two-book deal for a "mid-six-figure sum". The first book, based on how she met "Mr Frog", her former French partner and the father of "Tadpole", her four-year-old daughter, is due to be published in January.

Katy Follain, who signed the deal, said the fact that Ms Sanderson had been discovered through her blog was incidental. "We need to look at the writing itself. Her writing is so strong we signed her for two books," she said. There have also been talks with production companies about a film version of the book, in which she has floated the idea of being played by Kate Winslet.

Ms Sanderson said: "I never dreamed that this would turn into a book deal. This time last year I was in a job and spent some of my spare time writing about my life in Paris and myself. Now all this has happened, and hopefully it is working out for the best. I don't regret the blog."

Although partly inspired by Belle de Jour, the sexually explicit blog of a London call girl, the musings of La Blogeuse Anglaise are significantly less racy.

A French and German graduate, Ms Sanderson does not know how knowledge of her blog, which she kept secret from colleagues, reached her employers. She is claiming £50,000 for wrongful dismissal in a case to be heard next month which has international implications. It will be the first in France to decide if an employee can be dismissed for alleged infractions on a blog.

Ms Sanderson said: "There is a principle at stake. You should be free to discuss your life in a public forum." Dixon Wilson declined to comment.

Reflections of La Petite Anglaise

THE WORKPLACE

"It is an oasis of Britishness in Paris ... you have to set your watch to GMT. There is a framed picture of Her Majesty QE2 in the entrance hall. We have Tetley tea and fresh milk in the kitchen."

ONE OF HER EMPLOYERS

"He wears braces and sock suspenders, stays in gentleman's clubs in London, and calls secretaries 'typists'. When I speak to him, I can't prevent myself mirroring his plummy accent."

ON BEING SACKED

"Old School Boss motions for me to close the door behind me. 'I am afraid I have called you here to tell you that I am obliged to terminate your employment with the firm.' My mouth forms a perfect 'O' of astonishment. 'This is because of your internet site.' Somehow he manages to make internet sound like an unspeakably filthy word."

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