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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

(Harry Potter #6)

J.K. Rowling

4.57 · Rating details · 2,435,814 ratings · 39,463 reviews

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet . . .

As in all wars, life goes on. The Weasley twins expand their business. Sixth-yea ...more

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Paperback, 652 pages

Published September 16th 2006 by Scholastic Inc. (first published July 16th 2005)

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· 2,435,814 ratings · 39,463 reviews

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Oct 09, 2013 Whitney Atkinson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2015, made-me-cry, favorites, childrens

i dont want to talk to anyone
dont even look at me
i was expecting it and i still cried for like 30 minutes

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Aug 01, 2013 Jayson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-juvenile-fantasy, read-in-2009, 600-plus-pp, genre-young-adult, format-illustrated, author-british, subject-boarding-school

(A) 86% | Extraordinary
Notes: It dwells on the delightfully mundane aspects of the magical world, and adds new dimensions to familiar characters.

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Jun 28, 2020 Jayson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: author-british, genre-juvenile-fantasy, subject-boarding-school, genre-young-adult, audiobook-audible, read-in-2020

(A) 86% | Extraordinary
Notes: A relationshippy respite, it’s Sturm und Drang defogging: all lovesick woe, observing foes, and problematic snogging.

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Aug 28, 2019 LilyCReads added it · review of another edition

Holy shit, I'm in all sorts right now.

Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTfaG... ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 C.G. Drews added it

Shelves: magical-fantasy, audio-books, young-adult, read-2015

I'm deleting my reviews as I no longer will support a discriminatory, racist, and transphobic author. Linking to some resources if you wish to read.

Harry Potter Saved My Life. J.K. Rowling Is Now Endangering Trans People Like Me Article by Kacen Callender
Why We Cannot Call Harry Potter Authorless
On JK Rowling from a Trans and Nonbinary perspective
Human Rights Award stripped from JK Rowling
Daniel Radcliffe Denounces JKR's transphobic views
Why We Can't Separate the Art from the Artist with JKR and ...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Adam Silvera rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2018-reads, audiobook

This remains one of my top favorite HP books! The Voldemort origins, the Dumbledore/Harry business, Draco's mission, the Snape reveal, and the moment the trio decide to not return to Hogwarts so they can stop Voldemort once and for all. It's a book that manages to balance so much darkness with light, so evident too in the last line. #AdamRereadsHP

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Apr 02, 2015 Kai added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, finished-series

“I am a wizard, not a baboon or a transphobe.”
- Not JKR

Mermaids UK

The Trevor Project

Black Visions Collective because Black trans lives matter. ...more

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Oct 18, 2018 Chelsea Humphrey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I'm not sure why, but this one took me completely by surprise. I was expecting this installment to be mainly filler to get us to the Deathly Hallows, but so much happened here that I must have forgotten from the movie. The Half-Blood prince was considerably darker than the previous 5 books, and I just adore how this series has progressed and grown just like most of its readers have. Obviously I knew what the big reveal was prior to finishing the book due to my viewing the films before, but it di ...more

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Jul 09, 2007 Aloysius rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Popular Fantasy Geeks

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was first introduced to Harry Potter in a Children’s Lit class in college. I had resisted this popular phenomenon until I was forced to pick it up for a grade, and Book 1 was short enough that I could read it in the course of 2 hours. I have to admit I wasn’t impressed to any extent, nor did I dislike the experience, but I was critical on grounds of its being derivative, even if reading the first led to reading the second. After all, if I was bored and looking for something light, I could do w I was first introduced to Harry Potter in a Children’s Lit class in college. I had resisted this popular phenomenon until I was forced to pick it up for a grade, and Book 1 was short enough that I could read it in the course of 2 hours. I have to admit I wasn’t impressed to any extent, nor did I dislike the experience, but I was critical on grounds of its being derivative, even if reading the first led to reading the second. After all, if I was bored and looking for something light, I could do worse than a fantasy about a child wizard who fights evil with his friends. But it was really the third book, with its increasing darkness, that took me in and made me a fan.

With a movie coming out for Order of Phoenix and Deathly Hallows on the horizon, I decided I would reread Half-Blood Prince. I figured it would take four sittings, of course, with its 600 pages, but time does fly when reading this one, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is my favorite so far. What I wouldn’t have been willing to admit in college that I’m perfectly comfortable saying now is that J.K. Rowling is a fantastic storyteller; she writes with great clarity, wit, and humor; and she’s created a cast of loveable characters with whom most people, due to the common experience of growing up, can relate closely.

That said, the reason for my preference for the 6th book is that it’s the most emotionally rich in the series. Here we get the backstory of Voldemort (*spoiler alert*) through a series of flashbacks (coming in HP by way of magically extracted memories), and in this way, we come to understand the villain’s similarities and differences with our hero. After all, the villain has to have reasons for committing heinous acts, and until now, we don’t know what these are.

Voldemort is from a once-powerful wizard family reduced to poverty that lives in a dilapidated hovel on the edge of a small town, wary of outsiders, and their main point of pride is their pure blood, the lineage having cross-bred for generations so as not to pollute the line. Voldemort’s mother lives with her father and brother and yearns for the love of a nonmagical man (“muggle” in this world) and when her father and brother are arrested, she uses the opportunity to bewitch her beloved and run off. She ends up pregnant, the man deserts her, and she dies while giving birth to her half-wizard, half-muggle son, thus making him an orphan (like Harry).

(Faulkner anyone?)

But whereas Harry comes to Hogwarts and befriends Ron and Hermione creating unity and strength through positive emotions, Voldemort, when growing in the orphanage shuns other children, torturing them at times (without the awareness of adults) and stealing their possessions. What fuels him is his hatred of his beginnings, his mother’s weakness at having died like a common person despite being a witch, and the “muggle” blood inherited from his father. Over the course of his time at Hogwarts, Voldemort, charming as only evil can be, learns to win over people as a means to an end and disguise his insidious purposes, but he never befriends anyone. He moves, through his hatred, further away from many of the emotions that drive Harry, namely the desire to protect the people he loves and avenge his parents’ death.

With Dumbledore’s help in exploring Voldemort’s past, Harry begins to understand that he’s come to be where he is through the choices he’s made, that his greatest strengths are an alliance with his friends, and that this might hold the key to destroying his enemy, a fact that’s made all the more poignant when Dumbledore, in an all-out assault on Hogwarts by Voldemort’s Death Eaters, is killed at the end. The stakes are higher than before, the action and pace increase as the conclusion draws near, and things are looking darker than ever, which is the setup that any fan wants when the end is looming and it leaves us with the question: How will our hero prevail? ...more

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Jun 03, 2014 Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, children-of-all-ages, 5-star-reads

I’m yet to mention one of the most important characters in this series in a review. I’m, of course, talking about Severus Snape.

Severus, the unsung hero.

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Severus, who sacrificed his own soul.

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Severus, who loved another more than life itself.

description

Severus, the half-blood prince- the truth about his character was, and will likely always be, one of the most surprising twists I’ve ever read in fiction. The set up is all in this book.

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...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, childrens

I could revisit this world over and over!!

Mel 🖤🐾🐺

flag 201 likes · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 21th-century, childrens-young-readers, british, fantasy, novels

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6), J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series.

Set during protagonist Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle against Voldemort alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.

The book was published ...more

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Jan 31, 2008 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, harry-potter

Since pretty much everyone I know has read these books, I figure reviewing them is pretty pointless. But with the new book coming out in a couple of days, I have to go through them beginning to end. To make the reviews more entertaining, I will be doing them in a variety of unexpected formats. For this review, I will be writing as a power ballad.

(Intro: Piano and strings)

You were always by my side
You will always be my guide
But the road I'm on
Goes on and on
And I've left you beHIIIIIND!

(Big crunch ...more

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Feb 06, 2020 Merphy Napier rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, five-stars

Here's my video review https://youtu.be/lgj2rQTmymw ...more

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Nov 11, 2016 Reynita Maharani ★ The Night Reader ★ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-reads, best-friends-to-lovers, broke-my-heart-in-half, live-up-my-expectation, i-love-the-cover, heroines-i-can-relate-to, warm-my-heart, i-want-to-live-in-this-world, so-funny-lol, my-book-bestfriends

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Second Reread Review:

REVIEW TO COME SOON

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
5 GLOWING MAGICAL STARS!

'Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right,' said Hermione. 'I heard him telling your mum, Ron.'

I'm really enjoying this series so far but this series gets darker and darker. the first three of this series were so funny and cute even though there were sad scenes on them and the fourth, fifth and sixth books contained so m ...more

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Feb 02, 2014 Jonathan Janz rated it it was amazing

Here's the thing about the Harry Potter books...

They're awesome.

Deep, huh? Well, deep or shallow, it's the truth. I waited a long time to read the Harry Potter books because I wanted to experience them with my own children. My son (8) and I just finished the sixth book, my first daughter (6) and I are working on the first, and my youngest child (3) is content to commandeer her siblings' wands and run around shrieking, "I have a Harry Potter stick!"

In other words, we all enjoy it.

I could write a ...more

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Jun 21, 2014 Kassidy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, favorites

It seems like by now, everyone would realize they should listen to Harry..
Such a sad end :( I knew that was going to happen before starting the series, but didn't know when. It still got me in the feels, though.
The book as a whole was really fun and entertaining. I love the mystery and learning more about Voldemort. The romance drama was funny as well.
I can't wait to see what adventures the next book brings and how it all concludes..

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May 15, 2017 Luca Ambrosino rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

ENGLISH (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) / ITALIANO

«It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind»

Due to numerous attacks of Death Eaters, the new Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, duly appointed, decides to meet the muggle British Prime Minister... It's the first time that the Muggle world and the magic one come bluntly face to face. J.K. Rowling chooses that the first chapter of this novel is the right time for this interaction, highlighting the dramatic situation and the necessary cooperation to stem the enemy of all: Lord Voldemort.

The bedtime reading for my daughter became less lighthearted and more serious by now. Luckily, for some difficult questions Dumbledore bails me out every time:

«It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more»

We're almost there, the end of the journey is close. Unfortunately, it will never be the same.

Vote: 9

«Era quasi mezzanotte e il Primo Ministro stava seduto da solo nel suo ufficio, a leggere una lunga relazione che gli scivolava via dalla mente senza lasciare la minima traccia»

A seguito dei numerosi attacchi dei mangiamorte, Il nuovo Ministro della Magia Rufus Scrimgeour, fresco di nomina, decide di incontrare il Primo Ministro britannico babbano... E' la prima volta che il mondo babbano e quello magico si trovano ad interloquire senza mezzi termini. J.K. Rowling decide che il primo capitolo è il momento giusto per questa interazione, a sottolineare la drammaticità della situazione e la necessaria collaborazione allo scopo di arginare il nemico di tutti: Voldemort.

Oramai la lettura serale per mia figlia si è fatta decisamente meno spensierata e più impegnata. Per fortuna, per alcune questioni spinose c'è sempre Silente a togliermi le castagne dal fuoco:

«È l'ignoto che temiamo, quando guardiamo la morte e il buio, nient'altro»

Ci siamo quasi, la fine del viaggio è vicina. Purtroppo per noi, però, non sarà più come prima.

Voto: 9

...more

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Jan 13, 2020 Teodora rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, ya, fantasy

Do you know what is better than this book (this book being already amazing)? This book narrated by Stephen Fry.
I swear, this was my second attempt EVER to listen to an audiobook and the narration was so good I actually enjoyed it so much. And I hate listening to audiobooks!

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Feb 21, 2017 emma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, recommend, slump-worthy, beautifully-written, reread, reviewed, owned-multiple, fantasy, 5-stars, ya

Reminder that all of my Harry Potter reviews contain unmarked spoilers, and lots of ’em. If you’re one of the two people on Goodreads who hasn’t read this series, this review is not for you. So, my dear underside-of-a-rock-residing friends:

https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...

This review will be interesting, because this book was far (far, far) from perfect, and yet I am utterly determined to give it 5 stars. (Which I have only given to the first book in this series.)

God, how do you talk abou ...more

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Aug 21, 2018 Hamad rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: good-covers, e-books, paperbacks, 2018-reads

Actual rating: 4.25 stars

This review and other non-spoilery reviews can be found @The Book Prescription

Why did Professor Snape stand in the middle of the road?
So you’ll never know which side he’s on!! ...more

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May 12, 2019 Luffy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star

I have read this book many times, although the penultimate one was years ago. Let's say that this was the first time I've read them in e-book form.

The reading was marvellous. There were things I'd forgotten, e.g. how late Harry and Ginny got together. I'd also forgotten about most of the funeral. I'll say no more, spoilers oblige.

What this book tells me is that sadly the more conservative of readers, grammarians etc will place so many books above Harry Potter #6, none of which is worth mentionin ...more

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Nov 30, 2013 Chloe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-reads, re-reads, best-audiobooks, 5-stars, audiobooks

3rd read: August 2018 - audiobook
I will never get over Stephen Fry's narration. It's simply magical ✨

2nd read: Jan - Feb 2018
ROONIL WAZLIB
description

...more

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Feb 24, 2016 Aj the Ravenous Reader rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Aj the Ravenous Reader by: Katerina

Shelves: classic, five-stars, fantasy, emotionally-intense

Buddyread with the cutest Trixi.

*sniffs* I have actually finished this several days ago but I spent those days mourning for the loss of one of my favorite characters of all time and before I start bawling my heart and eyes out again, let me straight away proceed to the random thoughts while and after reading the book. *sniffs*

1. *Gasps* Professor Snape???
2. Harry’s Quidditch Captain! Yaaas!
3. Weasleys’ Wizzard Wheezes (Say this ten times)
4. Malfoy’s head on Pansy Parkinson’s lap and Pansy stro ...more

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Mar 27, 2014 Warda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reread-worthy, re-reads, i-fell-in-love

“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.”

This brought my right back to my 14-year old self, who was cooped up in bed, shedding tears for the first time over a book, because of the ending.
I remember how I lay in bed, I remember the sun shining through the blinds and how wounded I felt that we lost one of the greats.
This still remains my favourite in the series alongside Deathly Hallows.
I’m glad this series has resonated with me for so long, is still st ...more

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Jan 07, 2017 April rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Always been my favorite out of the seven.

flag 123 likes · Like · see review

Oct 31, 2017 Tina ➹ the girl who lives in Fandoms rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read, favorite, reviews, all-time-fav, audiobooks, cover, disappointment, review-pride, golden-stars, wow-end

4.5 Golden Stars

Probably the most Hilarious book of HP; I was rolling on the floor most of the times of laughter! by Hilarious Ron, sassy Harry & Hermione's wittiness.

“Oh, she was perfect, obviously,” said Ron, before Hermione could answer. “Perfect Deliberation, Divination, and Desperation or whatever the hell it is...”

I mean, you know the 3 Ds here right?
if you don't, just know: it's Definitely not "Divination" or "Desperation"! XD

Don't get mad at me, but this book is my least favourite in Har ...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Inge rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favourites, feelgood-wholesome, villain-antihero-love, fantasy, young-adult, magic, faeries-fae-elves

Spoilers for anyone who has never read the books or seen the movies. In which case, have you been living under a rock?!

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 05, 2013 April (Aprilius Maximus) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, to-reread-and-annotate, favourites, 2017

1.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ★★★★★
2.) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ★★★★★
3.) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ★★★★★
4.) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ★★★★★
5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ★★★★★
6.) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ★★★★★
7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ★★★★★
8.) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ★★

-------------------------------------------------- ...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Evgeny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts. With Lord Voldemort on the loose things are going very bad in wizard community; all the troubles spill in the Muggle world. Unsurprisingly the book begins with a chapter with real Muggle Prime Minister - somewhat unnecessary I might add.

If you think you can find anything original in this review you are sadly mistaken. It is practically impossible to find anything new to say after literally everybody and their brother read and discussed the series.

Still it ...more

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About J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling

211,151 followers

See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she ch See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. ...more

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

(Harry Potter #6)

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