The Life And Lies Of Albus Dumbledore
Stripping away the popular image of serene, silver-bearded wisdom, Rita Skeeter reveals the disturbed childhood, the lawless youth, the lifelong feuds and the guilty secrets Dumbledore carried to his grave.
Sep 9ยท13 min read
The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore is a biography of Albus Dumbledore that was written by Rita Skeeter. Though it ran nine-hundred pages in length, Skeeter completed the book only four weeks after Dumbledore's death in June 1997, meaning that it was probably published in July of that year.
As was her common tendency, Rita swooped down in the immediate wake of a death to ensure that public interest remained high, whilst fully exploiting the legal situation that the dead cannot be libelled.
The book was rated with five stars by the Daily Prophet. Prior to its release, Betty Braithwaite had visited Rita's home for an interview about the title, and Rita served her tea and a slice of pound cake. It is probably because of this "warmth and softness" that Braithwaite's write-up was highly favourable and quite heavily biased in favour of Skeeter.
The book contained some controversial, though partially true, revelations about Dumbledore and his family, for example, the story of covering up of the "sickness" of Dumbledore's sister Ariana. It also talked about how Dumbledore's father was imprisoned in Azkaban for attacking three Muggles, and explored Dumbledore's relationship in his younger days with Gellert Grindelwald, who would later become an immensely powerful Dark Wizard, second only to Voldemort, and would be defeated in 1945 by Dumbledore himself.
In a sneak peek in the Daily Prophet, Rita says that there is a whole chapter on the Dumbledore/Potter relationship. In this article, Rita also comments on the speculation that Harry may have been involved with Dumbledore's murder.
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