By Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
Today we get our first look at the cover art for The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling, one of the most anticipated novels of the year. Little, Brown will publish the first adult novel by the celebrated author of the seven Harry Potter novels on Sept. 27.
Here's the plot summary for the 512-page novel released by Rowling's publisher: "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?"
Chances are The Casual Vacancy will be the runaway hit of the year. Rowling's series about Harry Potter, the boy wizard, was published between 1997 and 2007 and has sold over 450 million copies worldwide.
