The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

[Guest EXPAT]

So are you going to buy her new book of fiction that was released today? It's meant this time for adults (not an 'adult' book though).

The publisher's parent company, Little, Brown Book Group, described the plot on their website:

"When Barry Fairbrother 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?"

The plot focuses on class and other social tensions surrounding "the Fields," a public housing project on the outskirts of the suburban middle class community of Pagford Parish following the unexpected death of parish councilor Barry Fairbrother.The publisher says that The Casual Vacancy is "blackly comic, thought-provoking, and constantly surprising".

[Lucky]

Did you actually read the novel?

[TotallyOz]

My niece ordered this from Amazon and will read it when she gets it. She is very excited to read it.

Anyone read it?

[Lucky]

I have not, thus my interest in whether the OP had. I did read a review of it that is quite negative.

[Guest EXPAT]

It was only made available today for the first time.