J.K. Rowling Clarifies We're Not Getting A New 'Harry Potter' Novel

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News of a so-called "eighth" Harry Potter book flooded social media yesterday after publisher Little, Brown, announced it would be releasing the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" script in book format on July 31. 

But, J.K. Rowling wants us all to know, it is not a novel like her seven others in the series. Like the publisher tweeted, it's a script in book format. 

To be clear! The SCRIPT of #CursedChild is being published. #NotANovel #NotAPrequel https://t.co/3OhdOBIqJt
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 11, 2016

Technically, calling it the "eighth Harry Potter book" is correct. An official site refers to "The Cursed Child" -- the two-part play opening in London this summer that is curiously not a sequel or a prequel to the series, but stars the same beloved characters -- as "the eighth story" in the Harry Potter series. As a book containing that story, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I & II will be the eighth book. It just won't read like Rowling's others.

The whole thing deals with our main character's adult life after the great Battle of Hogwarts.

"While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted," a description on the play's website reads. "As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places." 

The play debuts on July 30, but fans who can't make it to England can buy the book just one day after -- which also happens to be Rowling's (and Harry's) birthday.

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