Margaret Schwebel of Collins Booksellers said the first shipment of the former Prime Minister’s memoir of her days in power sold out immediately, with a second shipment received on Friday.

“By the afternoon we only had one left,” Mrs Schwebel said.

“Its a fairly substantial book, and so far we haven’t received any feedback,” Mrs Schwebel said.

“But people who have been buying the book have said they are very curious to find out both sides of the story.

“Kevin Rudd says the book is a work of fiction, so we are keen to hear what people think,” she said.

Part-owner of Boomers ABC Bookshop Marcus Richards said Ms Gillard’s book is the next in a succession of books written by politicians which haven’t always met with a good response from the public and there’s been a slow response in his shop.

“So it will be interesting to see how John Howard’s book goes when it comes out.

“Although it is something of a social history on the Menzies era,” he said.

He said it will also be interesting to see how the books go because most of the books released by politicians such as Costello, Combet, Oakeshott and Carr which came out all around the same time didn’t sell well in Orange.