Harry Potter in all his magic-glory is back. Nine years on from author JK Rowling’s last Harry Potter novel, an eighth book is set to be released worldwide this July.
It might not be what you wizard fanatics expect, though. The new novel, dubbed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II, won’t be like the first seven before it. It will read like a play instead of a narrative – as a script version of the upcoming London play.
We’re thrilled to announce a new publishing programme from @jk_rowling #WizardingWorld: https://t.co/ffbBrlH3dz pic.twitter.com/b3Ks88WiZd
— Pottermore (@pottermore) February 10, 2016
Based on an idea by Rowling herself, the play by Jack Thorne is set 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Potter will be a full-blown adult in the two-part performance, married with “three school-age children” and working hard to make a living at the Ministry of Magic, as you do.
“While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places,” the play’s website reveals.
Chief Executive of Little, Brown Book Group, David Shelley, revealed that the script for the sold-out play is being published because of the demand from the franchise’s many, many loyal devotees.
“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, so we are absolutely delighted to be able to make it available for them,” Shelley said in a statement.
The book script will be published on Potter’s fictional birthday, July 31, obviously, which is the day after the play opens in London. The theatre production will star Jamie Parker as Potter and Noma Dumezweni as Hermoine Granger. If you missed out, you might be able to snap up tickets for a really, really absurd price, but we’d recommend hitting up the book for your fix.
But if you were wanting to add this to that book shelf dedicated to Potter’s life, you may be sorely disappointed. It’s only being published in physical book form in North America and Britain, and globally as a digital e-book, because god forbid we get by without the help of the internet.
