``It wasn't the money, she could have got much higher prices elsewhere,'' said British publisher Michael O'Mara. This was despite the fact that American publishers have spent months falling over each other to deny any interest, publicly at least, in buying up the story of Lewinsky's affair with Bill Clinton.

``Monica is an intelligent, well-spoken, average American girl, not the foolish bimbo that the press paints her as,'' said O'Mara, chairman of Michael O'Mara Books. Whether her behaviour last week confirms or contradicts thisview is open to question. Then, she started screaming at fellow diners and waiters in Gino's, a New York restaurant frequented by movie stars and politicians, when an elderly man laughed at her.

The publication of Monica's Story, some time between February and next summer, is expected to coincide with an interview by Barbara Walters on the ABC television network. Morton, a former Daily Star royal correspondent, has already conducted several interviews with 24-year-old Lewinsky, who felt bullied and threatened by independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Morton is said to have been granted ``exclusive and unrestricted access" to Lewinsky and her family. ``The real Monica Lewinsky is a very different person from the one people have read about in the press, and Andrew is the ideal author to redress the balance,'' said O'Mara. ``I feel confident this book will be a worldwide bestseller.''