Guardian Blogs: BooksZoe Williams Monday 4 June 2007 15.09 BST guardian.co.uk
Harry Potter bookmarks won't help the McCannsThe parents of Madeleine McCann have asked JK Rowling to insert pictures of their daughter into her next book. You can hardly blame them, but the idea is ill-conceived.
Gerry McCann holds up a photograph of his missing daughter at a press conference in Rome last Wednesday. Picture: Pier Paolo Cito/AP
The parents of Madeleine McCann have approached JK Rowling to be part of the campaign for the proposed Madeleine Day, in this case by inserting Maddy bookmarks into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series which is published next month.
For the McCanns, it's really a case of whatever it takes, obviously. You don't have to religious to understand why two desperate parents might go and see the Pope, and any attempts of theirs to keep the case in the public eye are totally understandable. Even if, from a police-work point of view, the feverish public engagement with the case might not be an unmitigated boon, what are you supposed to do, as parents? You either hope the world forgets, which it won't, or you convince itself that the attention of the world will do some good, which it might or it might not, but if you do manage to persuade yourself of that, then of course you're going to court it.
I'm amazed by the way some people have reacted to this case - I've had emails (not many, about five) from readers saying "the parents should be prosecuted!" I don't know why they're writing to me, I've not written anything about it. I was amazed by how vindictive they were, though, and I think that reaction is a function of empathy gone awry - you know, they look at this case, they identify so strongly with the sadness of it that they almost have to protect themselves from the identification by persuading themselves that the McCanns are inadequate.
All of which isn't strictly relevant to the bookmark business, but you can see that, in the face of all they're dealing with, the goodwill they do command would seem very valuable, and it would seem very valuable to maximise it and make it more concrete.
But from the point of view of anyone who isn't a parent of the missing child, the idea is ill-conceived. It won't help the enquiry or anything, it's like the missing kids on the side of the American milk cartons in the olden days. It isn't even really intended to help the enquiry, it's just there to sort of titillate. Make people feel involved; you've just seen a photo of an abducted child, that makes you the sort of person who cares very deeply, part of a community of people who care very deeply, all, coincidentally, with similar reading habits. It's all wrong, it's a cheap shortcut to emotional intensity. Rowling should probably say no, even though these are two very difficult people to refuse.
