Harry Potter author JK Rowling has accepted a substantial donation to charity from the law film that revealed she was behind The Cuckoo’s Calling—a crime novel published last April under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Rowling had brought proceedings against Chris Gossage, a partner at Russell’s Solicitors in London and his friend Judith Callegari after it was revealed she had penned the novel in the July 14th edition of The Sunday Times.
Russells told Rowling’s agent a few days later that Gossage had divulged the information to Callegari, who then told a journalist on Twitter.
Arts Editor of The Sunday Times Richard Brooks, who reported the story, told the New York Times that an anonymous twitter user told his colleague that the book she had earlier tweeted about was in fact written by JK Rowling.
This anonymous user was actually Callegari, according to tweets reproduced by Business Insider.
Rowling’s solicitor Jenny Afia said the author, who did not appear in court, “has been left dismayed and distressed by such a fundamental betrayal of trust”.
Gossage, Callegari and the Russells apologised, agreed to cover Rowling’s legal fees and made a payment of damages to the Soldiers’ Charity.
A statement later released on Rowling’s behalf said that all global net royalties owed to her from sales of The Cuckoo’s Calling will also be donated to the charity for a period of three years, dating from July 14th, the day Galbraith’s true identity was revealed.
“I always intended to give The Soldiers’ Charity a donation out of Robert’s royalties but I had not anticipated him making the bestseller list a mere three months after publication — indeed, I had not counted on him ever being there!” said Rowling.
