Harry Potter

When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he's the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord's curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Escaping his hideous Muggle guardians for Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles upon a sinister adventure when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous, or both. 'Funny, imaginative, magical ... Rowling has woken up a whole generation to reading. In the 2020s, thirty-something book-lovers will know each other by smug references to Diagon Alley and Quidditch' The Times 'Has all the makings of a classic ... Rowling uses classic narrative devices with flair and originality and delivers a complex and demanding plot in the form of a hugely entertaining thriller' Scotsman 'Full of surprises and jokes; comparisons with Dahl are, this time, justified' Sunday Times 'And you thought wizardry was for children. Harry Potter will make you think again. He casts his spells on grown-ups too' James Naughtie