Everyone knows by now that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stands for those magic words: Harry Potter eighth book. As everyone also knows, it’s a playscript – and for now, the rehearsal script, not what will actually go on stage – and not a novel.

But, most important, it’s not written by JK Rowling. No, she’s one of a three-member team, the other two being playwright Jack Thorne and theatre director John Tiffany, who have written the story on which the play is based. And the script itself is Thorne’s work, even though Rowling naturally gets top billing.

As “an overworked employee of the ministry of magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children”, Harry has to deal “with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs”. The cursed child is Albus Severus Potter, Harry and Ginni’s second offspring – the other two being James Sirius and Lily Luna.

The book will be published on July 31, and there are no prizes for guessing why: Harry turns 36 on that day.

To be published in July, 2016.