Outrageous_Tomato_71 was visiting the St John’s Church in Aylmerton, Norfolk, and decided to check out the parish visitor’s book. And there it is — J. K. Rowling’s autograph, Edinburgh, 18 May 2022. Tomato shared this fun find on the Cormoran Strike Running Grave Reddit page.
My first thought was, “Of course she signed the book!” In her ‘Year in the Life’ BBC video filmed in the madness surrounding the publication of Deathly Hallows, she visited the church next door to her childhood home. They filmed her looking through the parish visitor book to find where she had signed it back in the day, which she had.
So… we know that she visited Aylmerton. Has she been to Cromer? All we need now is a selfie of The Presence in the Lion’s Mouth. Hat doffed to Outrageous_Tomato_71 for this great catch!
What a great find Outrageous_Tomato_71!
I love the fact that as someone who once found names in church visitor books she is still someone who signs them. Also that the date is nicely corroborated by the tweet from @bridgetjanejone who kindly shared on Saturday 21 May 2022 that she’d just missed Rowling’s visit to her Cromer bookshop the previous Wednesday – 18 May, the same day she visited Aylmerton. I admit, though, that I am mildly disappointed that this suggests a single day research trip – I’d hoped we’d be able to locate a longer trip as evidence of how important the area is going to be to Running Grave!
Rowling’s header of this church did not go up until January 2023 – gap in time from researching to writing?