Penguin imprint Fig Tree has won an auction for a debut novel by Claire Fuller, which has also sold at auction in Italy and the Netherlands.

Juliet Annan signed UK and Commonwealth rights in Our Endless Numbered Days in a deal with Jane Finigan at Lutyens & Rubinstein.

The book tells the story of a girl named Peggy, who is forced to live for eight years in a forest with her survivalist father, before finally being returned home in mysterious circumstances.

Annan called the book "taut, very dark, beautiful, moving, joyful", and described it as " the start of a terrific writing career".

Fuller works in marketing and is also a sculptor.

Foreign rights for the book are being handled by Anna Steadman at Lutyens & Rubinstein, and the book has been sold in auctions to Mondadori in Italy and Orlando/A W Bruna in the Netherlands, with Emily Publishing pre-empting in Taiwan. Auctions are underway in France and Turkey, with first offers in Israel and Canada and more expected to follow.