The title of the 480-page whopper is The Casual Vacancy , and it is set for release on September 27, 2012.
The official description, while not particularly enlightening about genre or time period, gives us some hints as to what this book is about:
“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 façade 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 JK Rowling’s first novel for adults.”
It definitely sounds more Agatha Christie than JRR Tolkien this time around.
What are your thoughts on Rowling’s foray into the Muggle world; will she be able to wow the world for a second time?