I’m not gonna lie—when I heard that JK Rowling was doing an ‘adult’ book, I got really excited. There was a totally perverse part of me that was thinking about Hermione Granger and bondage and Ron Weasley’s ginger pubes, and I thought, “Instant classic.” Realistically, I knew that she was talking about a non-Harry Potter book, and I sort of cringed at the thought that I’d be considered … well, I don’t know what, since I’m both an adult and a massive, massive Harry Potter fan, but in either case, I was pleased as pie to know that she was writing again. Her new book, The Casual Vacancy, is about … well, this:
When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early 40s, 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?
So? How does it sound? Do you guys think this is going to be something you’ll be mad interested in devouring, or are books like Harry Potter more your speed?
The book hits stores on September 27th. Will you—like me—be pre-ordering?
obviously it sounds not-good-enough.
It sounds like a comedy. Harry Potter is all life and death and very serious and dark, and I think it has some very adult themes, but this seems just light humoured.