Cover, Synopsis Revealed for The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

The cover (right), and a more detailed synopsis (below), for J. K. Rowling's first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, has been released by Little, Brown.

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?

Scheduled to be published worldwide on September 27th, 2012, The Casual Vacancy is long — 512 pages — and expensive — $35.00 hardcover; $19.99 ebook; large print, $39.00; digital audio download, $29.98; audio CD, $44.98; all prices US list. The audio version will be read by Tom Hollander.