"It's very appealing, the idea of writing under a pseudonym."

"Realistically... I have to pay [journalists] the tribute of saying that my chances of getting away with that are incredibly remote... now."

The book she got away with writing under a pseudonym — long enough, at least, to get excellent reviews — is "The Cuckoo's Calling."

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There is a long history of authors changing their names. In 1984, Doris Lessing said she wanted to escape "from the cage of my literary reputation" when she began writing under the pen name Jane Somers. She did not reveal Somers's true identity to her British publisher, who rejected the manuscript. The book did find a publisher, but sold only 2,000 hardback copies.