Harry Potter's story has a happy ending (for the book shops, anyway)

So it's out at last ... but does Harry die? That was all the fans wanted to know yesterday as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was launched at midnight in the biggest worldwide publishing event ever seen. Stores around the world began selling at exactly the same moment – and by last night they were estimated to have shifted 20 million copies.

Related articles

• Hogwarts uncovered: The last remaining Harry Potter mystery
• Publishing secrets: Ten ways to become the next JK Rowling

Here WH Smith sold an unprecedented 15 books a second, while Waterstones said its 100,000 in the first two hours was "unlike anything we have sold before".

The first person on the planet to read the published novel from cover to cover and find out the fate of JK Rowling's teenage sorcerer was not a child fan in a wizard's hat. It was a 55-year-old mother who finished the 608 pages in just 47 minutes and one second.

Anne Jones from Leicestershire has been the world speed-reading champion six times. Blocking out the hubbub from fans queuing in fancy dress at Borders in the West End of London she read at a rate of 4,251 words a minute. That's 4,000 faster than the average adult, and an unofficial world record. Impressive – but, come on, what happens? "Oh," she said, "I don't want to spoil the ending for people."

Plenty of others did. The internet was awash with plot spoilers and theories. A scanned US copy, one of the 1,200 released early by mistake, was online.

Fans knew they could get up late yesterday morning and wander to one of the supermarkets offering huge reductions. But many still preferred to play along with now-traditional Harry hype.

So as midnight turned, J K Rowling read aloud to competition winners at the Natural History Museum. British sorting offices were preparing to send out 600,000 copies in the morning rounds. And across the world, cash tills began to ring. In Thailand, the UK ambassador, David Fall, handed over the first copy. In Israel, shopkeepers opened at 2am in defiance of Jewish laws about working on the Sabbath.

In America, 12 million copies had been ordered in advance. Portland, Maine, was one of hundreds of towns dressed up to look like parts of Potter's world. But in Mexico, the nation's leading exorcist, Father Pedro Mendoza, spoiled the mood by denouncing the books as causing "a lot of damage" to children. "If you put all these ideas in a child's head," he said, "[you are] opening an avenue through which the devil can get in."

But here the Archbishop of Canterbury had declared himself a fan and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, reduced Rowling to tears with his praise.

In France, the newspaper Le Parisien gave away the ending in a small paragraph printed upside-down. But most of the media were not spoilsports.

In the queue at Waterstones, Piccadilly, was Calli Cunliffe, a 16-year-old from Wandsworth, who insisted: "Harry has to die at the end of this book. No one will ever believe that it's the last one unless he does."

Rowling insists it is – but yesterday bookmakers lowered the odds on a follow-up after a run of bets following the launch. So does Harry die or not? You'll have to read it to find out.

Review

World speed-reading champion Anne Jones was the first to finish reading 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' from cover to cover in just 47 minutes and one second. Here, exclusively, is her verdict.

The book was great, fantastic. It was an easy read because it's a real page-turner. There is a morality in it that reminds me of Nazi Germany or even the Stalinist terror regime, because there is a literal witch-hunt when the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts are infiltrated by supporters of Lord Voldemort [Harry's evil nemesis]. The plot is much more complex than I thought it would be – and it will be quite complicated for kids to follow. It's about free will and choice, as opposed to predestination and prophecy.

There's a nice touch early on when Dudley Dursley [Harry's non-wizard cousin and tormentor] thanks Harry for saving his life. Harry has always been treated worse than dirt by the Dursleys, so this is the first time he has ever been thanked by the family.

There are lots of flashbacks and memories. Neville Longbottom, one of the children along with Harry who were potential killers of Voldemort, has a good role. Someone has to sacrifice himself to rescue Harry and his friends. It's a bit sad. I won't say any more! But it does reach a climax with a big battle. There is a wonderful, wonderful ending. And there is one real tear-jerking moment that will get all the kids weeping.