The Casual Vacancy

"I think I've really exhausted the magical. It was a lot of fun, but I've put it behind me for the time being. If there is a connection between Harry Potter and my new novel, it's my interest in characters."

- J. K. Rowling comparing The Casual Vacancy to the Harry Potter series.

The Casual Vacancy is a novel by J. K. Rowling, released worldwide on 27 September, 2012. It is Rowling's first novel targeted specifically at a grown-up audience and her first published work outside the Harry Potter series. In December, 2012, it was announced that the novel would be adapted as a television series by the BBC. The novel is slated for paperback release on 18 July, 2013 in the U.K., with two new covers available.

Plot
According to details released by the publisher, The Casual Vacancy is set in the seemingly peaceful, idyllic town of Pagford, home to a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey. However, beneath its surface, Pagford is a "town at war," where rich clash with poor, teenagers with parents, wives with their husbands, and teachers with their students. After the sudden death of Barry Fairbrother shocks the town, his seat on the parish council is left open, leading to an election "fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations."

The publisher describes the novel as "blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising."

Blurb
"When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the 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?"

- The Blurb from The Casual Vacancy

Release
The Casual Vacancy was published worldwide by Little, Brown and Company on 27 September, 2012 in hardback, e-book, audio download, and CD formats.

The audiobook was read by Tom Hollander.

Promotion
The title is being promoted with a "minimalist" approach, with few advance copies being released (similar to later Harry Potter releases) with few appearances by Rowling herself and only one appearance in the United States, well following the novel's official release. While social media ads have been purchased online, bookstore promotion for the novel is said to be "muted." Those that have received advanced copies have reportedly been required to sign contracts described as "more legal documents than would typically be involved in buying a house."

Reception
As of 25 September, 2012, the print copy of The Casual Vacancy had risen to #2 on Amazon.com's list of bestsellers in books, behind only No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden. It was #1 in both the Contemporary and Literature sections. By the evening of that day, it had risen to #1 in bestsellers in books.

Early reviews have been generally favourable, but also noted that the book is most certainly very different from the Harry Potter novels, including elements such as drugs, sex, and swearing.