A first novel by TV writer Sarah Dunn, who wrote for Murphy Brown and was executive story editor for Spin City, won enthusiastic bids from editors at six houses in a heated auction, with Little, Brown's Judy Clain finally taking North American rights for close to half a million dollars. The book is called The Big Love, and has been described by some readers as comparing favorably to Bridget Jones's Diary and The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. The auction was conducted by agent Nick Ellison. Dunn left television two years ago and has been writing the novel, at three different writers' colonies, ever since.