The excitement over the release of J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series was always overwhelming, with hysteric fans around the world queuing outside book stores to grab her copies. On the contrary, the hype around her new novel "The Casual Vacancy'" is relatively low.
Rowling is releasing her first novel for adults - "The Casual Vacancy" - at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London, on Thursday. She is releasing it five years after the seventh and final instalment of the "Harry Potter" series.
"The Casual Vacancy" is a 512-page long novel published by Little, Brown Book Group. The book revolves around black comedy and talks of poverty, class prejudice and conflict within the middle-class sections of the society.
Giving a hint of its content, Little, Brown Book Group wrote:
"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 facade 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 Casual Vacancy" will be a sort of an acid test for Rowling following the stupendous success of her bestselling "Harry Potter" series, which sold over 450 million copies worldwide and were re-created into blockbuster films.
