A page-turner to beat the best

An excited Carly Palmer learns of her victory in the Sydney library where the speed-reading contest was held. Photo / Charlie Brewer

A New Zealander has been crowned Australia's fastest reader after she became one of the first people in the world to read Dan Brown's eagerly awaited novel The Lost Symbol.

Carly Palmer, originally from St Heliers but living in Sydney for the past five months, churned through Brown's 509-page book in two hours and 34 minutes.

Her prize for beating 26 others in a competition: a $500 collection of books and transtasman bragging rights.

"We were told it would take about four hours to read the book. I guess I was lucky there were no real speed readers among them," said Miss Palmer.

The 23-year-old administrative assistant said the hype surrounding its release - a million copies were sold in the United States, Canada and Britain on the first day of sales on Tuesday - was justified.

The new tome was "definitely a better read" than Brown's controversial The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 44 languages since it was first published in 2003.

The Lost Symbol sees its protagonist Robert Langdon uncovering a mystery in Washington DC involving the fraternal organisation the Freemasons.

Miss Palmer said that from a young age she had been an avid and fast reader - she finished the latest Harry Potter book in five hours - but had never received any speed reading training.

Asked if a person could take much of the story on board when reading at a rate of more than three pages a minute, she said: "Definitely. You can get a really good overview of it in such a short time ... but it's fair to say I will read it again and a bit more in depth."

Freemasons New Zealand grand secretary Laurence Milton told the Weekend Herald he was up to chapter 75.

He agreed Brown's latest effort was "an enjoyable and engaging read".

"There is some embellishment of course, like people drinking out of skulls, which is something we don't do," said Mr Milton.

"Other than that, there is a very good explanation of who the Freemasons are and we are very pleased with the book."

Mr Milton says Freemasons New Zealand has about 10,000 members at 270 lodges throughout the country.

He concedes there are secrets "like our handshakes and passwords".

"We just don't tell anyone because we have taken a promise not to."

But Mr Milton said the group was possibly the largest private provider of university scholarships in New Zealand and was heavily involved with charities donating more than $6 million to several charitable trusts last year.

Miss Palmer said it was "a really strange coincidence" that the central Sydney building she works in was shared by a group of Freemasons.

"It's a bit funny. They've invited me to go and speak at their book club and I think I'll take them up on their offer."

A Warehouse spokesman would not reveal sales figures of the book, citing commercial sensitivities.

But he said that while it was probably not selling as quickly as the Harry Potter or Twilight series, it was "certainly right up there" in terms of its genre and age group.

Whitcoulls could not be contacted for comment.

Five million copies have been printed. Its pre-sales have rocketed it to the top of Amazon's best-seller list.