Little, Brown has released the cover and additional information for The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's forthcoming novel. The book, publishing worldwide in English on September 27, has a confirmed page count of 512 pages; a release from Little, Brown called it "a big novel about a small town." The release described the book as follows:
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 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 Casual Vacancy will be available in hardcover ($35), large print ($39), e-book ($19.99), audio download (29.98), and audio CD ($44.98). A larger version of the cover is below.