Robert Galbraith's Books

Biography

Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of Joanna Rowling, better known as J.K. Rowling, the author of the series of Harry Potter stories.

Joanna Rowling was born in Gloucestershire in 1965 and, by her admission, was a bookish child.

“I was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and National Health spectacles.” (J.K. Rowling)

She wrote her first story when she was six and her first novel at eleven. Whilst she always wanted to be a writer, her parents persuaded her that being bilingual would improve her job prospects. Hence, she studied French and Classics at the University of Exeter. After graduating, she moved to London, Manchester and ultimately Porto as a translator, secretary and teacher. Rowling met her first husband in Portugal, the television journalist Jorge Arantes. He subjected her to domestic abuse, and the marriage failed. Rowling found herself a single parent living on social security in Edinburgh.

“An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless.” (The Harvard Gazette)

Harry Potter

During this time, Rowling wrote The Philosophers Stone and sent the first three chapters to several literary agents. One wrote back and asked if he could read the rest of it.

“It was the best letter I had ever received in my life.” (J. K. Rowling)

Seven novels, 500 million copies and a handful of merchandising deals later, Joanne Rowling is the most successful author in Britain with a net worth, according to Forbes, of over £800 million.

Philanthropy

Rowling has given generously to both political and charitable causes, founding the children’s charity Lumos and becoming the President of the single-parent charity Gingerbread.

Controversy

Despite her popularity and charitable work, Rowling has courted conflict with her outspoken views in the transgender debate. She took issue publicly on Twitter with an editorial article.

“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” (Twitter)

Her subsequent stance has been applauded and vilified by people on all sides of the debate and has led to multiple death threats from trans activists.

Robert Galbraith

Rowling’s fame became a burden, so she took on the name of an unknown author, Robert Galbraith, for the first Cormoran Strike book, The Cuckoo’s Calling. Despite having already agreed to a deal with her existing publisher, Little Brown, Rowling sent a copy of her manuscript to every major publisher to keep up the pretence of being a first-time author.

“I really wanted to go back to the beginning of a writing career in this new genre, to work without hype or expectation.” (Robert Galbraith)

A member of the Twitterati leaked her secret to The Sunday Times. When the paper unmasked Robert Galbraith as J.K. Rowling, The Cuckoo’s Calling, which to that point had sold a modest 1,500 copies, became a best seller.

Rowling donated the surge in profits to The Soldiers’ Charity. She also took the source of her leaked identity, a partner in her firm of solicitors and one of his close friends, to court.

“A tiny number of people knew my pseudonym, and it has not been pleasant to wonder for days how a woman whom I had never heard of prior to Sunday night could have found out something that many of my oldest friends did not know.” (The Guardian)

Style

Rowling has said that she always wanted to write classic whodunnit puzzles, which is evident in Robert Galbraith’s books. Rowling is a dedicated planner and works her way through suspects and clues.

“‘Lethal White’ required a spreadsheet that was more complicated than any I’ve created before. It had nine columns, red text for red herrings, blue text for clues, and various colours for different suspects and themes. Before I start each Strike book, I know exactly who did it, why they did it and how they did it.” (Irish Times)

Rowling’s fame has led to in-depth critiques of her Cormoran Strike novels. One columnist at Vox has noted that Cormoran Strike and Harry Potter share the same character traits. They are both “survivors traumatised by war” and bear the scars to prove it, a lightning bolt in Harry’s case and a missing leg in Cormoran’s. They are both “cursed by their fame and neglected by those closest to them”, and both share a strong, sarcastic streak and dislike for authority. Most importantly, both have an unerring ability to uncover the truth and right wrongs.

Similarly, her portrayal of a trans woman in The Silkworm has led to more than a few column inches that her anti-trans opinions have found their way into her Strike novels.

I can’t help but think that this is beating a dead horse. Captain James T. Kirk was traumatised by battles and disliked authority (though he had both legs), and nobody is writing profound critiques about The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Critical Acclaim

Robert Galbraith’s books have been nominated and shortlisted for several prizes. The fifth book in the Strike series, Troubled Blood, won the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year Award, and Rowling provides intricate plots with intertwining stories. You get a lot of book for your money.

After The Sunday Times revealed the unknown Galbraith’s true identity, the publishing house Orion admitted that they had turned it down. The company’s publishing director Kate Mills said, “It was certainly well written – but it didn’t stand out”.

Having read two of the Strike series, I agree with Ms Mills. However, I am in the minority.