Dear Reader,

It's the book the world has been waiting for. A generation has grown up on it, while another has seen in it a chance to recapture its lost world. It is as once a marketing creation as it is a popular movement and literary sensation. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is ready to fly off the bookshelves on its magic broom-it has already topped the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists without being physically available. In it, Harry battles it out with Voldemort yet again as his beloved friends Ron and Hermione give him able magical support. Questions abound. Will Harry destroy the horcruxes? Is Snape truly evil or is he actually working for Dumbledor's Army? What does deathly hallows mean? And yes, most important, will Harry make it alive? On July 21, all answers will be found in the seventh and final instalment of the kid with the scar and a sad back story. Scholastic, the US publisher , has anounced an initial print run of 12 million copies, and while the book is expected to be 608 pages in the British edition, it has been confirmed to be 784 pages in the US edition. As everyone knows Rowling has told fans to keep advance knowledge about the end to themselves. In the age of instant gratification that will be the biggest question of them all.

Rowling drafted the last chapter of the book several years ago, and gave herself an ending she didn't want to change. It is a character she has now lived with for 17 years and as she said on her website, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." The sentiment may well be shared by all her fans once they read it.

S.Prasannarajan