When it was announced earlier this week that J.K. Rowling was allowing the text to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to be published in book form, many assumed that this meant that this would would be an eighth book in the series. However, just as she has done time and again, Rowling said that this is not a novel or a prequel.
Rowling retweeted a fan who assumed that The Cursed Child would be book No. 8. “To be clear,” she added, “the SCRIPT of #CursedChild is being published.” She added the hashtags “#NotANovel” and “#NotAPrequel.”
It was announced on Feb. 10 that there are plans to publish the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as a book in July, just as the play opens in London. As Entertainment Weekly points out, Rowling has repeatedly said that it is not a sequel or a prequel to the main Potter series.
However, the book does take place after the events in The Deathly Hallows and centers on Harry’s youngest son, Albus, who is dealing with the weight of being a Potter. Harry himself is also struggling as an overworked Ministry of Magic employee. The two “learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places,” according to the play’s official plot description. The play was written by Rowling and Jack Thorne.