British readers will be introduced to Canadian author Lori Lansens on Wednesday when her novel The Girls is featured on hit U.K. talk show Richard & Judy.

"For an author, this sort of thing is like winning the lottery," Lansens, originally from Chatham, Ont., told CBC News on Wednesday morning from her current home in Los Angeles.

Canadian author Lori Lansens Canadian author Lori Lansens
CBC

"There are lots of wonderful books out there. For whatever reason, the planets lined up and [my] book was selected."

The book club that husband and wife co-hosts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan added to their Channel 4 program in 2004 has grown to become a major influence on the British publishing scene.

Titles the couple feature on their daily show often sell more than 200,000 copies in the U.K. and sometimes influence futher sales across Europe. For example, more than 20 books on the list of the 100 top-selling titles sold in Britain in 2006 were featured on Richard & Judy.

When Lansens received news in December that her novel had been chosen for the show, her agent and publisher described the book club as "Britain's version of Oprah," she said.

Released in Canada in 2005, The Girls is Lansens' sophomore effort. It tells the story of a pair of conjoined twins named Rose and Ruby Darlen, and is set in the author's hometown of Chatham, where a four-person crew from Richard & Judy filmed a segment with Lansens in January.

"We drove around all day. What they really wanted to do was reflect the setting of the book so that readers in the U.K. could see what does this particular area of southwestern Ontario actually looks like," she said.

"It was a wonderful day. It was one of the coldest days in January and they did mention that setting the next book in Fiji might be a good idea."

Lansens said her novel, which was revealed as part of the upcoming Richard & Judy book lineup in early January, is already selling quite well.

"I'm told there's a very good chance the book will do very well," she said.

"I'm obviously delighted to think that the book is being so widely read and that I'll have the opportunity to share this story with so many people across the ocean."