This is the loveliest thing...: JK Rowling praises Indian fan who once stole Harry Potter book

An avid Harry Potter fan, Reese Thomas, then just 14, had loved reading all six books of the Harry Potter series but it was when the seventh and final one was out when the boy resorted to stealing the book. Though he himself was a Muggle, a mundane human without the benefit of magical arts, Reese intuited that "coming of age" entailed crossing the line.

Years later, the boy caught the attention of J K Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter series. Last Monday, the author of the Harry Potter series spoke of Reese."I know I'll be accused of encouraging book stealing by sharing this, so PLEASE DON'T STEAL BOOKS, BOOK STEALING IS BAD. Anyway, this is the loveliest thing and made me really happy," she wrote on X.

She was referring to Reese's recently published debut book, "90s Kid", in which he had confessed stealing the last part of Deathly Hallows because as a student in class IX in a Muvattupuzha school, he couldn't afford to buy it.


Following Rowling's message, Reese wrote: "Years before, I did something and it has reached all over the world. But most importantly, it has reached the one and only JK Rowling, the exact person who I wanted to read it".

While Rowling's message helped erase whatever residual guilt he might have felt, Thomas had found sufficient closure last month itself when, after 17 years, he summoned the courage to go to the New College Bookstall in Muvattupuzha to pay for the book he had filched.

Why did the boy steal Harry Potter book?
Reese recalls that as a 14-year-old raised in a devout Catholic family he had qualms about shoplifting. But goaded by his classmates - who challenged him to see to what extent a Potter fan would go - Reese went ahead and did it anyway.

(with ToI inputs)