I found a Winterson manuscript on the Tube

An unpublished novel by Jeanette Winterson was accidentally left at a south London tube station.

The Stone Gods, by the award winning writer of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, is not due to be published until September - but was found abandoned on a bench at Balham.

The 134-page manuscript was spotted by Martha Oster, a teacher from Tooting, on her way home after a night out.

Ms Oster, 27 - who studied the author's controversial Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit for A-level - counts Ms Winterson as one of her favourite novelists, so she recognised her name immediately.

She said: "I sat down to wait for my train and it was just lying on the bench. There was no-one around, so it had obviously been left by someone.

"I'm nosey so I picked it up, had a flick through, and realised what it was. I was amazed to find it like that.î

Simon Prosser, Penguin's publishing-director, blamed Wednesday-night's incident on human error.

He admitted the manuscript was accidentally left at the Tube station by someone who works for the publishing house.

He said: "If someone is reading a manuscript on the Tube, home or the bus, as they often do, then it is very possible that they might leave it.

"In this case someone was reading the manuscript, or partial copy of the manuscript, and because it was late left it behind.

"She went back to the station to try and retrieve it, spoke to the cleaners, but could not find it anywhere."

Caroline Michel, the author's agent and managing director of the William Morris Agency UK, said Winterson, 45, was not in the country and was unaware of what had happened.

She said the incident was highly regrettable but that Penguin had assured the agency it would not happen again.

"I have spoken to Penguin about it and we are aware of how it happened. It was an accident," she said. "It is not something that happens every day, thank goodness."

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit was published when Winterson was 26. It won the 1985 Whitbread Prize for a First Novel, and was adapted for television in 1990, when it won the Bafta for best drama.

Winterson's other books include The Passion, Sexing The Cherry, Written On The Body, The. Powerbook and Lighthousekeeping.

Winterson, who opened a shop, Verde's, in Spitalfields to sell organic food and is an Evening Standard columnist, was awarded the OBE in the 2006 honours list.