J. K. Rowling's First Adult Novel Title, Synopsis & Release Info Revealed

Rowling, author of the bestselling Harry Potter book series which has sold almost 500 million copies worldwide, is venturing off into completely new territory for her next published work.

The Casual Vacancy will be released on September 27th, 2012, and sold as an e-book as well as a traditional hardback volume. Here is the initial synopsis courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:

When Barry Fairweather 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?