JK Rowling chose her alter ego of Robert Galbraith by conflating the name of her political hero Robert F Kennedy and her childhood fantasy name “Ella Galbraith”, the Harry Potter writer has explained on her alternative persona’s official author website.
The author, who was outed last week as the writer of detective novel The Cuckoo’s Calling, also confirmed that she has “just finished the sequel” – the first of a projected series featuring sleuth Cormoran Strike – which is to be published in 2014.
The Cuckoo’s Calling, shot to No 1 in the hardback fiction charts last week, selling 17,662 copies after Rowling was revealed to be its author, charting above Dan Brown’s Inferno at number two, and Second Honeymoon by James Patterson at number three. In the overall UK book charts, it reached third place, behind paperbacks of John Grisham’s The Racketeer at No 1, and Rowling’s previous adult novel The Casual Vacancy, which also climbed rapidly following the news, at number two.
Rowling also reveals that lead character’s first name “was a gift from his flaky groupie of a mother, is unusual and a recurring irritation to him as people normally get it wrong; we sense that he would much rather be called Bob.”
Picture Credit : Google
