JAGGER'S STARRING ROLE IN DAHL'S BOOK

AS WE REVEAL NEW LOVER: IS SHE FAKING THE MICK?
By Andy Rudd

Model Sophie Dahl's first novel is about to set the showbiz world alight - but NOT because it's being hailed as a literary triumph.

Sophie, granddaughter of legendary children's writer Roald Dahl, describes her book The Man With The Dancing Eyes as "a fairytale for adults".

But the question on everyone's lips is - has Sophie based the title character on her former boyfriend, ageing rocker Mick Jagger?

Friends say that the story of heroine Pierre, who escapes to New York after her heart is broken in London by a charismatic painter, has uncanny parallels with the 26-year-old model's real-life affair with the Rolling Stones singer.

One friend of Sophie's said: "It's about how her heart was broken, how she healed and how she found love again."

In the story Pierre is "incandescent with happiness" after meeting her new lover at a fancy dress party.

In real life, Sophie and Mick, 59, met in 2000 after being introduced by Jagger's daughter, Jade. It was Jagger's first steady relationship since he split from Jerry Hall in 1999. But the couple parted after just 12 months.

The intimate details Sophie has put into her 86-page novelette, published by Bloomsbury, are sure to embarrass Jagger. For example, could this be the way it all ended between them? Sophie's heroine Pierre thinks she has found the perfect gentleman but then she is left heartbroken when her man commits "an indiscretion that tore her in two". Sophie writes:

It was a treachery she couldn't bear and she decided to go some place, any place, that didn't have him in it.

Her heart felt like it had been stung by 10,000 angry wasps.

Jagger's relationship with the model, last week named as Scottish knitwear firm Pringle's new sweater girl, caused rows with his daughter Jade. So not surprisingly the novel, to be launched on Valentine's Day February 14 - but already in some shops now - sparked a bidding war across the Atlantic.

Sophie's London agent, Ed Victor, said: "If people want to say it's about Mick Jagger, that's what they'll say. Often in fiction, people use material from their own lives. And here, maybe she is, maybe she isn't."

In the book the hero is described as "a painter (a long-limbed, rather brilliant one).

He had a tattoo of a mermaid snaking seductively up his arm and sang Bob Dylan tunelessly but with soul... sometimes he took himself too seriously. But his wooing was legendary and Byronic in style.

Pierre and the man with the dancing eyes waltzed off into the night. Under the stars they sat with a picnic (deftly conjured up by Claridges) drinking oceans of champagne.

As the sun rose lazily above London, he kissed her on the Albert Bridge. She was filled with an inexplicable burst of joy, although it could have been the champagne. And there began a glorious affair.

Unlike real life, though, the book has a fairytale happy ending.This is the first time that Sophie has shown any inclination to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who wrote his classic book The Big Friendly Giant for her.

She was talent-spotted at 18 by Storm modelling agency as she stood weeping in the street after an argument with her mother, Tessa, and has modelled ever since.

First, at Size 16, she claimed to be a champion for women with curves - but later she slimmed to standard model proportions.

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ACTOR IS HER NEW DAHLING
By Dan Bridgett

Supermodel Sophie Dahl has fallen in love with the son of one of America's top plastic surgeons.

Her romance with handsome actor Dan Baker is her first serious relationship since she split from wrinkly rocker Mick Jagger more than a year ago.

Dan's father, Daniel Baker Snr, is known as "the King of New York's face-lifters" and his celebrity clients are rumoured to include Italian movie beauty Sophia Loren.

Sophie moved to New York's Greenwich Village last year and met Dan at a Christmas party. Last week the couple were in Los Angeles together after Sophie, 26, attended the Golden Globes. "They've been trying to keep it private," said one friend.

But that may prove impossible because Dan's family is one of the best-connected in America. His mother is socialite Mary Conley Baker, and before their recent split, Dan's father and his second wife Nina Griscom were a power couple on the New York A-list.