Based on exhaustive research, interviews with those who know her and a penetrating evaluation of the novels, this is the first full-length biography of one of the most important writers in the world today. She is the creator of probably the best-known and certainly the best-loved character in contemporary fiction; she is also the author of her own escape from an existance on the brink of poverty, with no job and few prospects. On the one hand there is J.K. Rowling, who wrote and continues to write, the Harry Potter novels, a literary phenomenon of both the last millenium, and the new one. On the other, there is Joanne Rowling, a quiet, dreamy, rather shy woman whose brilliance in translating her dreams into prose transformed her own life. The author examines the experiences that not only helped to shape J.K. Rowling, but that led in the end, as in all the best fairy tales, to fame and fortune.
Sean Smith's richly varied writing and journalistic career has left him well equipped to write the biography of a novelist who at times seems to be almost as secretive as she is famous and successful. A former national newspaper columnist who now works as a freelance writer, he began his career with local newspapers in the West Country, before moving to London, where he spent ten years as a show-business and gossip writer with the Daily Mirror, and a further two and a half with the Sunday People. He left to launch and manage his own medical magazine, and it was this taste of editorial independence that led him to become a full-time writer.
His first book, Sophie's Kiss, about the relationship between Prince Edward and the then Sophie Rhys-Jones, was published in 1997 and became an international bestseller. It was followed by When You Walk Through the Storm, about the Hillsborough football tragedy, Stone Me!, a Rolling Stones companion, and the highly acclaimed rugby history The Union Game, published by BBC Worldwide. His most recent work, Royal Racing , about the principal sporting interest of the Queen and the Queen Mother, was published by BBC Worldwide in March 2001.
A veteran of countless TV and radio programs, Sean Smith has been described by the Independent as 'a fearless chronicler'. He has commented that, "The life of Joanne Rowling is a wonderful subject, combining serious social issues with enormous popular appeal." Like the novelist, he comes from the West Country, and has contacts with a number of her friends, teachers, former classmates and neighbors, enabling him to base his biography on exclusive interviews with these and others who know her.
