Rowling sets Thames on fire

LONDON, JULY 8. At the stroke of midnight the witching hour began - and thousands of British children ravenous for adventure and wizardry were finally able to sink their teeth into the latest Harry Potter book.

Fans of the schoolboy magic-maker queued for hours to be the first to buy J.K. Rowling's fourth instalment - ``Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' - published today. Bookshops across Britain were invaded by kids. Some planned to stay open at least until 1 a.m. local time, others pledged to stay open all night to cash in on early sales. ``It's a phenomenal success,'' said Mr. Tom Surrey, a spokesman for Waterstone's in Piccadilly, central London, which is Europe's biggest bookstore. The store organised a ``sleepover'' party for children determined to be the first to get their hands on the book at the midnight hour.

Within half an hour of sales opening, Mr. Surrey said hundreds of copies had been swept off the shelves and people were queueing for hundreds of metres to get into the shop. ``I love all the magic,'' one young fan told Sky television. Another little boy said it was the way that ``everything seems so real'' that captured him. The 640-page saga became the biggest selling book in E-tailing history even before it was published, with 400,000 advance orders coming in to Online Bookshop Amazon.Com. American bookstore Barnes Noble said the new Harry Potter had drawn 360,000 pre-orders at stores and on-line, more than ten times the number of pre-orders for any previous book.

A spokesman for Amazon.co.uk said the response had been ``outstanding'' with one in every 150 children in Britain pre- ordering a copy. Staff worked through the night on Friday to get orders ready for shipping. As if by magic across the Atlantic there were bewitching tales of sightings of Harry Potter books appearing, as if by magic, for sale at one California bookstore hours before the midnight debut. Within five minutes the 40 copies had vanished into thin air as shoppers jumped at the chance of a sneak preview.

The mythical characters and amazing adventures of the Harry Potter books have captured the hearts and imagination of millions of children - and their parents - across the globe. The book is the fourth in the popular series by British author J.K. Rowling detailing Harry's adventures at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. The first three books have sold up to 35 million copies so far and have been translated into 31 languages.

Harry has graced the front of Time magazine, spent up to 100 weeks in the New York Times bestseller list and is going to star in a Hollywood film - with up to 40,000 hopefuls applying to be the on-screen Potter. Prompted by today's book four craze, the New York Times book review said yesterday it planned to raise the curtain on a separate bestseller list for children's books on July 23.

Ms. Rowling, who has been showered with literary awards and hailed for reviving children's love of books, said she was baffled by the extraordinary success of her creation. ``I just wrote what I wanted to write. It's the kind of thing I like reading,'' she told BBC television. ``There are no words for me to say how surprised I am.''

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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