J.K. Rowling Released A Secret Novel Called “A Cuckoo’s Calling” & No One Knew

Living with the pressure of being one of the most successful writers of all time might not exactly do wonders for an author's sense of freedom. Having your every word scrutinized sounds nerve-wracking. This loss of freedom is exactly what made J.K. Rowling (she wrote this series about wizards, perhaps you've heard of it?) ditch her nom de plume and release a book under the name of Robert Galbraith called A Cuckoo's Calling. In April. Yup, almost four months have passed without the press realizing that Galbraith is actually one of the biggest writers in the world.

The experience was liberating for Rowling, who told BBC, “It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.” Not only was it nice to not have the pressure of Harry Potter looming over her project, but it appears that critics enjoyed Galbraith as well. Publisher's Weekly wrote, “In a rare feat, the pseudonymous Galbraith combines a complex and compelling sleuth and an equally well-formed and unlikely assistant with a baffling crime in his stellar debut." And hey, we thought the Snape/Lily twist during Deathly Hallows was surprising. (Buzzfeed)