As a shy and chubby child, Elizabeth Ridley found refuge in television. The 39-year-old says it was the "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson that curbed her loneliness and inspired her to dream of success.

"I knew that Johnny Carson too had been a shy child growing up in the Midwest and he became a hero to me," says Ridley.

In a sweet and simple tribute to Carson, who died from emphysema in early 2005, Ridley wrote "Dear Mr. Carson," the first known novel about the popular talk show host.

Recently published by Permanent Press in New York, "Carson" has received mixed reviews from many publications, and words of praise from acclaimed Madison-based author Jacquelyn Mitchard ("The Deep End of the Ocean," "The Breakdown Lane.")

"Dear Mr. Carson" is the story of Wilma "Sunnie" Sundstrom, an overweight teenager from Milwaukee who is in love with Johnny Carson. The story takes place in the summer of 1978, when Sunnie is thrown out of fat camp and heads for California to meet her idol.

Ridley says 70 percent of the novel is fiction, and the remainder is based on her life. "I never had the guts to hop on a bus to California to meet him," she admits.

Aside from being a classic coming-of-age story, "Dear Mr. Carson" addresses issues of self-acceptance and childhood obesity.

Ridley grew up in Milwaukee, then earned a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern and a master's degree in creative writing from University of East Anglia in England. "Dear Mr. Carson" is her fourth book.

More than 150 publishers, movie executives and literary agents rejected Ridley's book at first. One even suggested she change her name and lie about her age because her first three books had sold poorly and her chances of getting published again were greater as a young, unknown author.

"I attended a 'Pitch Fest' in Hollywood where the only producer who was interested suggested I make Sunny 15 and imply that she had an illicit affair with Johnny," says Ridley.

Discouraged, Ridley went to the Middle East where she took a job ghostwriting the autobiography of a former Palistinian refugee who founded a pharmaceutical company and later became a Jordanian government minister. While there, she was confronted in her car by two angry men with machetes, and after escaping attack, Ridley had an epiphany.

"I thought, 'What am I doing, letting other people take credit for me work? If I died tomorrow I would want something out in the world that I could call my own,'" she says.

Elizabeth Ridley's Web site for "Dear Mr. Carson" is dearmrcarson.com.