Wisconsin farm tale Oprah's book club choice

Oprah Winfrey has annointed a debut novel by a 48-year-old software developer from Colorado as her next book club choice.

David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is sure to be a runaway hit after the endorsement of the daytime talk show host.

Released in June, it has already had strong reviews and sales, partly due to word of mouth and a cover blurb by Stephen King.

The story follows a mute boy growing up on a farm in rural Wisconsin, where his family raises a rare breed of dogs. The novel, written sometimes from the point of view of the dogs, has a plot inspired by Hamlet, with the boy setting out to avenge the death of his father.

Reviewers praised it for eschewing sentimentality in favour of strong story-telling. A review in O magazine calls it a "classic in the making."

On her show Friday, Winfrey called it the "best novel I've read in a long, long, long time."

 "I think this book is right up there with the greatest American novels ever written, I really do," she said, comparing the writing to John Steinbeck and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

Wroblewski worked on the 500-page book for more than a decade.