It’s good news all around for Harry Potter creator JK Rowling of late.
The best-selling author has just announced that she and her second husband, 31-year-old anaesthetist Neil Murray, are expecting a baby in the spring. She has a daughter, nine-year-old Jessica, from her first marriage to Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes.
There were also happy tidings this week from the US, where on Wednesday a New York court ruled in JK’s favour, drawing to a close a three-year-long ordeal in which she has been accused of plagiarism by American writer Nancy Stouffer.
Judge Allen G Schwartz declared the British author innocent of copying Stouffer’s material or infringing on any of her alleged trademarks, describing the plaintiff as being fraudulent, untruthful and dishonest.
Speaking in an interview in The Times JK, who had described the accusations as being “hellish” and “highly stressful”, said: “The clouds have lifted and I no longer have to worry.”
Nor need she worry about reports that she is suffering from writer’s block, it seems. The fifth book is essentially finished, stacked in a “nice, pristine and big” pile in her Edinburgh office, where it awaits final corrections.
JK is evasive on the subject of whether it will be in shops by Christmas – she was rushed to meet the publisher’s deadline on her last work and vowed not to repeat the situation – offering up only a vague “maybe” when asked.
She has revealed, however, that the series has only two more books to run. The sixth and seventh episodes have already been plotted, but the latter will be the last in the magical adventures of young Harry.
