Like almost every literate teenager out, I have grown up on the Harry Potter. Rowling, the genius behind the most famous wizard in the world had as big a hand in shaping my childhood as my own parents did. I was among the geeks hungrily waiting outside the bookstore for the last book to get released.
I may or may not spend hours thinking about Harry Potter or the reality of Harry Potter fan theories while conveniently forgetting that thinking about the reality of a fantasy series has all sorts of irony. Long story short – I am unapologetically, a Potterhead and a proud member of Ravenclaw (hey! Pottermore quizzes are totally real okay).
So you can imagine my happiness when I realized that we wouldn’t have to wait for 12 years in the grimy Azkabans of our minds for the next Harry Potter book. Of you didn’t get the wizardly references in the previous sentence, then you Siriusly need to brush up on your Harry Potter trivia.
The new book, titled “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”, is to be released this summer and contains the script for the stage play telling the story of our favourite wizard. Scholastic and our Queen Rowling announced through Pottermore that the upcoming Harry Potter Stage Production, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2” is to be published as a script book on July 31. Yes, the day a newly aged 11-year-old Harry first found out he was a wizard, aka, Harry Potter’s birthday. The book will be available as a “special rehearsal Edition” at 12:01 on the 31st (also the time Hagrid knocked down the door to wish Harry on his 11th birthday). The book arrives a day after the world premiere of the play at London’s Palace Theatre on July 30th.
The book is based on a story that Rowling wrote in collaboration with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany (these guys probably had ‘writing with Rowling’ on their bucket list. Who wouldn’t have that on their bucket list?!). It will be the first major publication in the series since the final book almost a decade ago, published waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2007. Man, I feel old.
The story picks up precisely where the epilogue of the last book ended- 19 years after the historic Battle of Hogwarts. Let’s catch up on what happened: Harry, married to Ginny (I KNOW RIGHT WHOEVER SAW THIS COMING. IT’S NOT LIKE ROWLING SAID THEY WERE SOULMATES OR ANYTHING!), now has 3 children: James, Albus, and Lily. Our focus here is Albus, or Albus Severus Potter- named after, as Harry says “the bravest man I ever knew”, who is learning to deal with is family’s legacy.
The press release of the book says,
“As the past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: Sometimes darkness comes from unexpected places.”
A representative of Scholastic informed the press that the first print run was yet to be determined. David Shelley, Chief Executive of the Publishers of the UK edition, Little Brown Book Group stated, “We are so thrilled about publishing the script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. JK Rowling and her team have received a huge number of appeals from fans who can’t be in London to see the play and who would like to read the play in book format- and so we are absolutely delighted to be able to make it available for them.”
I don’t get excited too easily. I’m pretty nihilistic in my views; I believe in fun things like the meaninglessness of life and my ultimate end in an abyss. However, this excites me, to say the least. We get an 8th book. A play. A black Hermione. Eddy Redmayne as Newt Scamander in ‘Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them”. This is turning out to be a very good year for Potterheads, and this Potterhead is excited (literally for the first time) for the new year.
Last Updated on by Navya S