Evanna Lynch’s memoir coming in October

Evanna Lynch has written a memoir called The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and Glory of Growing Up. She posted on her Instagram account that she has completed the manuscript and it is now in the editing phase. Well, we know someone spent their pandemic lockdown time productively! It will be released sometime in the autumn—looks like October 14 is a tentative release date—but it can be pre-ordered now from Amazon in the UK, Penguin Random House in the USA, Booktopia in Australia, and Mighty Ape in New Zealand.

When I write about an actor in the Harry Potter films, I usually say “So-and-so played [name of character]”. But it is different with Evanna and Luna. Saying that Evanna Lynch played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films feels inadequate because we all know that she did more than act the role; she was Luna. All of the actors played their characters well, but Evanna personally embodied Luna. Already a sympathetic and relatable character, Luna came alive in the films in a unique way.

Evanna’s memoir will talk about growing up in the public eye after obtaining the role of Luna in Order of the Phoenix, and deal with the thornier aspects of fame, adolescence, and reaching adulthood. Putting her soapbox to good purpose, Evanna has advocated for animal rights and been open about her successful struggle to overcome an eating disorder. She speaks frankly about the tension between perfectionism and creativity, and how the inevitability of growing up threatened the perceived safety of childhood: ‘Gradually, I began to feel this dawning awareness that womanhood was coming for me, that it was looming inevitably, and it didn’t feel safe… While those around me tried to expedite it, simulate it, exacerbate it, I tried to strangle it.’

It sounds like a compelling memoir, with a lot to offer Potter fans who sometimes feel that we are living partly in the Magical world and partly in the Muggle, and struggling to reconcile the two. Evanna has achieved a beautiful balance by embracing the difficulties of change and we at Leaky look forward to reading about her journey thus far.

For our UK readers: To celebrate the launch of the new memoir by Evanna Lynch, Headline Books is offering one pre-order buyer the chance to read it in a top-end London hotel. If you pre-order the book from this link, you can enter a contest, sponsored by Headline Books, to receive your copy before the public release date and enjoy a break in a London hotel in which to read it. Contest is open to UK residents age 18 and over.

Follow Evanna on Instagram for more details of her upcoming book release.