Fastest-Selling Book For Almost A Decade

Fastest-Selling Book For Almost A Decade

It's official - according to Neilson Bookscan Australia the play script of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two, published at 9.01am AEST on Sunday the 31^st of July, has shot straight to number one, selling over 211,000 print copies in its first week in Australia.  It is now officially the fastest-selling book for almost a decade (since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007) and the fastest-selling play script of all time.

Shaun Symonds from Neilson Bookscan, the agency that monitors book sales in Australia, said: 'Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is the highest selling book in a week since July 2007, recording sales of 211,898 copies for $5.51m in its first seven days on sale.  Overall it is the seventh highest single week behind the first two individual weeks of sales for books five, six and seven in the Harry Potter series since Nielsen BookScan started in 2003." - Justin Ractliffe, Managing Director Hachette Australia said:

'It has been an amazing week in Australia for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Sales are phenomenal, the reviews are excellent and, most importantly, readers have embraced it and word-of-mouth is exceptionally strong. We fully expect the book to be a bestseller right through to Christmas and beyond. It is wonderful to be a part of a book that has created such joy and excitement across the world."

As well as phenomenal sales, the book continues to attract rave reviews in the Australian media. Writing in The Weekend Australian critic Peter Craven called it, -a paradigm shift in the history of fiction and entertainment.' He said, -it's moving, it's marvellous, it chokes you up with as you're confronted with the blackest evil and most fervent hopes in the world' and praised it as an -extraordinary piece of popular writing' and -supremely artful'.  The Weekend West described it as -stupendous' and -incredibly fulfilling'.

Sales around the world have also been outstanding, with Little, Brown Book Group officially selling almost 850,000 copies in the UK alone in its first week, and it has received sensational international reviews too, The New York Times lauded it as a -compelling, stay-up-all-night read' and The Times said -what a wonderful, magical, twisty story it is'; The Independent praised the book as -warm, witty and wildly inventive'; The Daily Telegraph said -The thrill of a new Harry Potter book, even in script form, is its own kind of magic'; The Daily Mail stated that the book -will be devoured without difficulty by a huge audience'; whilst, according to The Sun, -It is action all the way'.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two, a play by Jack Thorne based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, opened at The Palace Theatre in London's West End last Saturday (July 30^th) to critical acclaim.  At midnight on Sunday July 31 (UK time), the Special Rehearsal Edition of the script was published containing the complete script, including stage directions, used by the original West End production during the play's preview period.