06/05/2003

Secret Harry Potter book discovered in field

Two first editions of JK Rowling’s latest novel in the Harry Potter series have turned up on a Suffolk common.

In a twist worthy of its author, the Sun has splashed with a front page story that two copies of the top secret fifth book 'The Order of the Phoenix' dubbed “the closest guarded secret in literature” had been found lying in a field.

The books were promptly handed over to the tabloid daily by an unnamed man who discovered the books while out walking on a common in the market town of Bungay in Suffolk.

The paper said that the books, held under “heavy security” at its Wapping HQ would be handed back to publishers Bloomsbury and that the plot would not be revealed.

So secret is JK Rowling’s 'The Order of the Phoenix' that only a select few have seen the manuscript.

The book, the fifth in the staggeringly successful series about the young wizard and his pals at Hogwart’s, is not due for distribution until June 21.

Yet amazingly two copies of the book were found near to the high-security premises of Clays printing factory in Suffolk – the firm which has printed all five of the Potter books. The Sun also claimed that reporters had been offered three chapters from what is thought to be a third copy of the book for £25,000.

The fifth book is eagerly awaited by readers as the author has said that she will reveal why the evil wizard Voldemort sought to kill Harry Potter’s parents and that there will be a death of one of the book’s leading characters.

(SP)

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