J.K. Rowling reveals name of first post-Harry Potter book

The author has also divulged the plot details

J.K. Rowling has revealed the title of her first post-Harry Potter book.

It's going to be called The Casual Vacancy.

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Little, Brown - who have bought the rights to the book - have also announced the first details about the plot.

The publication statement reads: '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?'

Speaking about her new work earlier in the year, Rowling said: 'Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world.

'The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher.'

The book will be available around the world in hardback, e-book and as an audio download and CD on 27 September.

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