Image caption Rowling wrote The Cuckoo's Calling under the pen name Robert Galbraith 
 
 Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has accepted a substantial charity donation from the law firm that revealed she was writing under a pseudonym. 
 
 The writer brought a legal action against Chris Gossage, a partner at Russells Solicitors, and his friend, Judith Callegari. 
 
 Rowling was revealed as the writer of crime novel The Cuckoo's Calling in a Sunday Times article. 
 
 The author had published the book under the pen name Robert Galbraith. 
 
 Rowling's solicitor told Mr Justice Tugendhat that Russells had contacted the writer's agent after the story was published, revealing it was Mr Gossage who had divulged the confidential information to Ms Callegari. 
 
 Ms Callegari then revealed the information in the course of a Twitter exchange with a journalist. 
 
 The court heard Rowling had been "left dismayed and distressed by such a fundamental betrayal of trust". 
 
 Mr Gossage, Ms Callegari and Russells all apologised and the firm agreed to pay the author's legal costs. 
 
 It also agreed to make a payment, by way of damages, to The Soldiers' Charity, formerly known as the Army Benevolent Fund. 
 
 Rowling explained that she was donating the money "partly as a thank you to the army people" who helped her with research. 
 
 "But also because writing a hero who is a veteran has given me an even greater appreciation and understanding of exactly how much this charity does for ex-servicemen and their families, and how much that support is needed," she said. 
 
 'Extraordinary generosity' 
 
 The Cuckoo's Calling, about a war veteran turned private investigator called Cormoran Strike, had sold 1,500 copies before it was revealed that Rowling was its author. 
 
 Within hours, the novel rose more than 5,000 places to top Amazon's sales list. 
 
 Rowling said she would be donating all the royalties for the book to The Soldiers' Charity. 
 
 She said she had "always intended" to give the charity "a donation out of Robert's royalties" but "had not anticipated him making the bestseller list a mere three months after publication". 
 
 Major General Martin Rutledge, chief executive of ABF The Soldiers' Charity, said they were "absolutely thrilled" by the author's "extraordinary generosity". 
 
 "This donation will make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of soldiers, former soldiers and their families who are in real need. 
 
 "Her tremendous show of support for The Soldiers' Charity will help to remind people of the many sacrifices made by our soldiers, long after any news of Afghanistan has left the front page." ||||| The Harry Potter author brought proceedings against Chris Gossage, who works for law firm Russells, and a friend of his, Judith Callegari. 
 
 Her solicitor, Jenny Afia, told Mr Justice Tugendhat that Rowling was revealed in the Sunday Times as the writer of crime novel The Cuckoo's Calling , which was published under the name of Robert Galbraith. 
 
 A few days later, Russells contacted her agent disclosing that it was Mr Gossage who had divulged the confidential information to his wife's best friend, Ms Callegari, during a private conversation. Ms Callegari later revealed the news in a public Twitter message to a Sunday Times journalist 
 
 Ms Afia said that Ms Rowling, who was not in court, "has been left dismayed and distressed by such a fundamental betrayal of trust". 
 
 Mr Gossage, Ms Callegari and Russells all apologised, with the firm agreeing to reimburse Ms Rowling's legal costs and make a payment, by way of damages, to the Soldiers' Charity, formerly the Army Benevolent Fund. 
 
 Rowling, 47, previously issued a statement saying she was “disappointed” and “very angry” that her trust was "misplaced". 
 
 "A tiny number of people knew my pseudonym and it has not been pleasant to wonder for days how a woman whom I had never heard of prior to Sunday night could have found out something that many of my oldest friends did not know," she said. 
 
 "To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. I had assumed that I could expect total confidentiality from Russells, a reputable professional firm, and I feel very angry that my trust turned out to be misplaced." 
 
 After it was identified as being written by J K Rowling, sales rocketed as publishers commissioned another 300,000 copies to keep up with demand. 
 
 Afterwards, a statement issued on the author's behalf said that all global net royalties which would otherwise have been paid to her from book sales of The Cuckoo's Calling would be donated to The Soldiers' Charity for a period of three years, dating from July 14 - the day that Galbraith's identity was made known. 
 
 She said: "This donation is being made to The Soldiers' Charity partly as a thank you to the Army people who helped me with research, but also because writing a hero who is a veteran has given me an even greater appreciation and understanding of exactly how much this charity does for ex-servicemen and their families, and how much that support is needed. 
 
 "I always intended to give The Soldiers' Charity a donation out of Robert's royalties but I had not anticipated him making the bestseller list a mere three months after publication - indeed, I had not counted on him ever being there! " 
 
 Major General Martin Rutledge, chief executive of the charity, said: "We are absolutely thrilled by the extraordinary generosity of JK Rowling who is such an internationally renowned author. 
 
 "This donation will make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of soldiers, former soldiers and their families who are in real need. 
 
 "Her tremendous show of support for The Soldiers' Charity will help to remind people of the many sacrifices made by our soldiers, long after any news of Afghanistan has left the front page." 
 
 Follow @TelegraphBooks ||||| J. K. Rowling had more magic up her sleeve after all. 
 
 Mulholland Books 'Robert Galbraith' is a pseudonym. 
 
 Over the weekend the Sunday Times (London) disclosed that she is the author of "The Cuckoo's Calling," a well-reviewed crime novel issued in April under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. 
 
 The book, which features a private investigator named Cormoran Strike, who lost a leg in Afghanistan, quickly zoomed up the charts Sunday after Ms. Rowling was identified as the writer. The author had originally been described as having served in the military, where his experiences helped shape the novel. 
 
 The book was published in the U.S. by Mulholland Books, an imprint of Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group, and by a sister imprint in the U.K. 
 
 By early Sunday afternoon, the physical edition ranked No. 1 at Barnes & Noble Inc.'s online store and at Amazon.com Inc. in the U.S. A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman described the title as a slow seller until Ms. Rowling was identified as the author. 
 
 After J.K. Rowling was unmasked as Robert Galbraith, the author of "The Cuckoo's Calling," the book quickly zoomed up the charts. Jeffrey Trachtenberg reports on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images. 
 
 By late Sunday afternoon, "The Cuckoo's Calling" was temporarily out of stock online at BarnesandNoble.com, while Amazon said that the title "usually ships within 10 to 14 days." A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble noted there is still "some availability" in stores." 
 
 Mulholland will publish a second book in the series next summer, said Reagan Arthur, publisher of Hachette's Little, Brown & Co., in a prepared statement. She also said that "The Cuckoo's Calling" is being reprinted and that the edition will state that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling. 
 
 An independent retailer in the Midwest said she understood Ms. Rowling's desire for a clean slate. "I think she did this so that she could write freely without expectations from her audience," said Sarah Bagby, owner of Watermark Books & Café in Wichita, Kan., which stocked the book when it came out in April. 
 
 A spokeswoman for Ms. Rowling confirmed the author's identity via an email but declined further comment. 
 
 Ms. Rowling is best known for her wildly popular seven Harry Potter novels, all of which were made into films. Although her first adult novel, "The Casual Vacancy," received mixed reviews last fall, it proved popular with readers. 
 
 On Sunday, Michael Pietsch, chief executive of the Hachette Book Group, said "The Casual Vacancy" has sold more than a million hardcover copies in North America since publication and was the group's biggest selling hardcover title in 2012. 
 
 Earlier this year, a "rich list" published by the Sunday Times, which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp, estimated Ms. Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($846 million). 
 
 The Harry Potter series has sold more than 450 million physical copies world-wide, according to Scholastic Corp., which publishes the books in the U.S. Scholastic is in the process of issuing new fancy paperbacks with new cover illustrations. 
 
 Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com 
 
 A version of this article appeared July 15, 2013, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Poof! It's J.K. Rowling.
– JK Rowling embarked on quite the flight of fancy when inventing her pseudonym Robert Galbraith—and that might prove controversial. Galbraith's bio claims that he spent "several years with the Royal Military Police" and that the protagonist of his novel—one-legged Afghanistan veteran Cormoran Strike—"grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends." Indeed, Rowling created a full backstory for her alter ego, who apparently eventually found himself in the RMP's plain-clothes Special Investigative Branch, before leaving for the civilian security industry. While so far Rowling's invention appears to be flying under the radar, fake military service claims often prove contentious. In the US, it's even illegal to profit from them, thanks to the new Stolen Valor Act, which was signed into law last month to replace an earlier version struck down by the Supreme Court. Then again, Rowling probably could have profited more without the pseudonym; since the reveal, sales of The Cuckoo's Calling exploded 507,000% at Amazon, reports CNN, and it's now out of stock online at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. (A rep for the latter told the Wall Street Journal it wasn't a big seller pre-reveal.) A new edition is coming that will acknowledge Galbraith as a pseudonym for Rowling.