Little, Brown Announces Title, Description and Release Date for J.K. Rowling's Next Novel

Posted on April 12, 2012

Little, Brown has announced the title and release date of J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults. The novel is called The Casual Vacancy and will be published worldwide in the English language in hardback, ebook, unabridged audio download and on CD on Thursday, September 27, 2012.

Little, Brown describes the book as follows: "When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults."

From the description, we're hearing a bit of Tom Wolfe and a bit of Mark Twain, possibly with an Agatha Christie or even a Stephen King twist. But that's probably just us getting carried away with the exciting mention of "Pagford is not what it first seems." That just screams Stephen King to us, but -- alas -- we doubt there will be a supernatural element to the book. The Casual Vacancy is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Photo: Andrew Montgomery/ Wall to Wall Media Ltd.