Hot property

2003-06-18 22:18

Montreal - A Canadian woman purchased a copy of the fifth Harry Potter book at a Montreal store 10 days before its official release, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

"I think it's pure luck," Melissa, 23, told the Montreal Gazette on condition that her full name not be used.

She came across "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" on a Wal-Mart shelf and paid the store's discount price at the cash register -- no questions asked.

The woman told a friend who went there the next day and bought two copies, before the pile of books was withdrawn, according to the report.

The book has been jealously kept under wraps in the United States, Britain, Canada and the rest of the English-speaking world until its release at midnight Friday.

The woman said she warned the Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, that the Potter adventure was on sale. She said the firm offered 5,000 Canadian dollars (3,700 US) for the return of the books but they had turned down the cash.

"I wanted to finish it," she told the Gazette. "It's really good."

"After I'm done, I don't care."

A New York tabloid newspaper published details of the book on Wednesday after finding it for sale at a health food store.

Sapa-AFP

/rm

- SAPA