New Harry Potter book breaks sales record in Australia

Sydney, Aug 5  The latest instalment in the popular Harry Potter series co-authored by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany has become Australia's fastest selling book of the decade, the media reported on Friday.

More than 170,000 persons have rushed to grab a copy of the two-part West End stage play titled "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" in the first three days of its release on July 31, Xinhua news agency cited publishing house Hachette Australia as showing.

The unprecedented response to the play script has left retailers scrambling to order thousands of more copies.

Booktopia's head of marketing John Purcell said the online business was sold out despite placing four bulk orders of more than 8,000 copies.

To date, J.K. Rowling has sold 450 million copies of her Harry Potter seven-book series worldwide.