HARRY POTTER & THE CURSED CHILD

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

PARTS ONE AND TWO SCRIPT BOOK - Hardcover

(Special Rehearsal Edition)

Published by Hachette NZ, $49.99 RRP

The play script of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two has shot straight to number one in New Zealand, recording the highest first week of sales for a book since Nielson Bookscan began reporting on the local market.

 The sales here reflect the phenomenal success of the book worldwide. In North America 3.3 million books were sold in the first week, the UK saw sales of almost 850,000 books, while the Australian market saw over 200,000 copies cross bookstore counters.

Melanee Winder, Sales & Marketing Director of Hachette NZ said: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has had an incredible first week of sales in NZ, breaking all sorts of records and making a lot of NZ readers very happy indeed. We are continuing to work closely with local retailers to ensure this title stays at the top of the bestseller chart right through to Christmas and beyond.”

New Zealand stores have struggled to keep up with demand, with some reporting such strong pre-orders they sold through their initial order before the book even went on sale.

With the book selling to fans of all ages, it seems likely to be the year’s biggest fiction release in the New Zealand market.

It has received sensational reviews, both here and internationally. The New York Times lauded it as a “compelling, stay- up-all-night read” and the UK’s The Telegraph pronounced, “It’s difficult to overstate how exciting it is to read a new story set in this widely loved fantasy universe. The thrill of a new Harry Potter book, even in script form, is its own kind of magic spell.”

 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.  The following day 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.