A Hitchin author's best-selling debut book is set to be published in China.

Zoe Folbigg's phenomenally successful The Note, has already been translated into Hebrew and German as well as Polish – and will appear in China early next year.

Zoe's stunning literary debut, which has topped best-sellers lists since in was published in 2017, stems from her true life story on how an unforgettable romance prompted by a small written message – or note – can change everything.

Zoe's universal theme, which chimes with readers from Hitchin to Hong Kong and many places in between, is one of sliding doors, missed opportunities and finding happiness when you least expect it, in a life-affirming reminder that taking a chance can change everything.

"When I started writing The Note, the dream was to get an agent to represent me," Zoe told Hitchin Nub News, adding: "Then it was for us to secure a book deal – then it was for the book to come out and sit on the shelves on Waterstones in Hitchin, or David's Bookshop in Letchworth.

"When it did I thought I couldn't be happier. I'd achieved a life dream. To have gone to Poland and launched The Note - or Stacja Milosc – 'Love Station' - in Warsaw before lockdown, with a totally different looking cover, and to know it's coming out in China next year, which will look even different, is just beyond my dreams.

"To know my small story that started on the 8.21am from Hitchin to King's Cross is resonating with readers around the world is just amazing."

Since The Note's debut three years ago, Zoe has featured on the BBC, Sky and ITVs This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, not to mention a raft of national newspapers and magazines, as well as generating huge attention abroad – from articles in the New York Times to appearances on Australia's Channel 9, and everything in between.

Author Zoe had been a magazine journalist and digital editor, starting at Cosmopolitan in 2001 and has freelanced for a number of titles including Glamour, Fabulous, Daily Mail, Healthy, LOOK, Top Sante, Mother & Baby, ELLE, Sunday Times Style and Style.com.

In 2008 she had a weekly column in Fabulous magazine documenting her year-long round-the-world trip with 'Train Man' – the person she met on her daily-commute from Hitchin, who would eventually become her husband - and the basis for her critically-acclaimed best-seller The Note.

Modest Zoe, who lives in Hitchin with her 'Train Man' husband Mark, and their two young sons, very much has her feet on the ground despite all her success.

"It's lovely when people come up to me in Hitchin and say they enjoyed the book, or they recognised parts of "Hazelworth" in The Note," Zoe explains, adding: "The Note was mainly a story about making a leap and how one moment of courage can change your future, but it was also a love letter to my husband, and a love letter to Hitchin.

"Many of the places in the book are recognisable to anyone who lives/works/shops/eats in this wonderful town. So it's funny when people come up to me and say "I recognised where Maya was running in that scene…" or "A restaurant with a bicycle hanging from the ceiling eh…?!"

The Distance, Zoe's second book, was about two people living two very different lives and whether they can cross a gulf, ocean, sea – and fjord – to give their love a chance.

The Postcard, a sequel to her bestselling phenomenon The Note, is set a year after the kiss that brought her two main characters, Maya and James, together in a snowy train-station doorway, as they embark on another journey – this time around the world.

Busy Zoe has been busy putting the finishing touches to her fourth book which will be published next year – while having her hands kept full by homeschooling her two young boys during lockdown.

She said: "Lockdown has challenged all of us, but I found it especially difficult trying to edit The Night We Met while also explaining fractions to my kids.

"Especially as I'm a words and not a numbers kind of person. So we've had tears. But my boys embraced it, their school was so supportive, and we've all huddled together.

"Our community is so full of solidarity, that even though we weren't leaving our homes in strict lockdown or seeing our friends, we knew we were all going through it together, and that we would get through it somehow, with that sense of solidarity, and all being in it together.

"Hitchin is a wonderfully creative town, but it's also wonderfully supportive."

Follow Zoe on her official Instagram account @zoefolbigg

To learn more about Zoe's life, novels and career visit her website zoefolbigg.com