JK Rowling's new book's plot may seem too familiar to readers. Here's why

Autobiographical or simply a coincidence? JK Rowling's new book 'The Ink Black Heart' has a story that may seem too familiar to her ardent fans and readers.

According to reports, fans who have had a chance to go through the book seem to have drawn comparisons of the book with Rowling's personal life.

The sixth book from the crime thriller series Cormoran Strike has been written under the author's pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

In the latest story, Edie Ledwell, a creator of a popular YouTube cartoon, is being persecuted online by trolls after one the cartoon termed as racist, ableist, and transphobic. Ultimately Ledwell is found dead afterwards, leading Cormoran and private detective Robin Ellacott on the hunt for the anonymous online persecutor.

One would recall, that JK Rowling too has faced severe backlash and called transphobic in recent years. In 2019, Rowling had publicly supported Maya Forstater, a UK tax specialist who was fired over tweets that were deemed to be anti-trans. Then in 2020, she was accused of transphobia when she criticized an op-ed piece that discussed "people who menstruate" rather than using the term "women."

In the same year, she published a lengthy blog post on 'Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues.'While Rowling has since then repeatedly made her stance clear and stated that she isn't against the transgender community, the backlash has made several prominent celebrities distant themselves from the author.
Fans are now convinced that Edie Ledwell's character is based on Rowling's life.

Rowling has in the past stated she has received death threats for being transphobic. "Endless death and rape threats, threats of loss of livelihood, employers targeted, physical harassment, family address posted online with a picture of the bomb-making manual aren't 'mean comments.' If you don't yet understand what happens to women who stand up on this issue, back off," wrote Rowling in July 2022.

Rowling has claimed that the similarities between her and Ledwell are mere coincidence.

Rowling spoke to Graham Norton last week and said, "I should make it really clear after some of the things that have happened the last year that this is not depicting (that)."

"I had written the book before certain things happened to me online," she continued. "I said to my husband, 'I think everyone is going to see this as a response to what happened to me,' but it genuinely wasn't. The first draft of the book was finished at the point certain things happened."

'The Ink Black Heart' released on Tuesday, August 30.