The Casual Vacancy is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012.

[1] The novel is set in a suburban West Country town called Pagford and begins with the death of beloved parish councillor Barry Fairbrother.

However, those running for a place soon find their darkest secrets revealed on the Parish Council online forum, ruining their campaign and leaving the election in turmoil.

The novel was the fastest-selling in the United Kingdom in three years,[2] and had the second best-selling opening week for an adult novel there since Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.

Within the first three weeks the book's total sales topped one million copies in English in all formats across all territories, including the US and the UK.

After the date for the election of Fairbrother's replacement is announced, the children of some of the councillors and candidates decide to make damaging, yet often accurate, posts on the Parish Council online forum.

Andrew Price is the first to do so, by means of an SQL injection which he learned how to perform in school, operating under the name 'The_Ghost_Of_Barry_Fairbrother' and informing everyone that his father, Simon, had obtained a stolen computer.

Thirdly, Fats Wall posts, claiming his adoptive father Cubby (a Deputy Headteacher) suffers from obsessive fear of having molested a child without any memory of the fact.

Finally, in a desperate attempt to relieve the guilt weighing on him for costing his father his job, Andrew confides in Simon and posts that Council leader Howard Mollison is having an affair with his business partner Maureen.

Howard's son, Miles Mollison, is the winning candidate, much to the displeasure of his wife, Samantha, who confesses she did not know if she still loves him, only to eventually reconcile.

Referring to the original conception of the Harry Potter series on a train from Manchester to London, Rowling said "Obviously I need to be in some form of vehicle to have a decent idea.

"[9] Critics questioned whether younger Harry Potter fans might be drawn into wanting to read the book, Rowling responded saying, "There is no part of me that feels that I represented myself as your children's babysitter or their teacher.

[8] Rowling has commented on her economic situation before the success of Harry Potter as being "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless"[9][11] and said that this was why she was drawn to writing about poverty.

Lev Grossman for Time wrote in a positive review, "It's a big, ambitious, brilliant, profane, funny, deeply upsetting and magnificently eloquent novel of contemporary England, rich with literary intelligence and entirely bereft of bullshit.

"[13] The Wall Street Journal wrote "Once you get your Mileses and Simonses straight and events begin to unfurl, it becomes a positively propulsive read.

"[16] David Robinson of The Scotsman praised the novel, saying, "It is far grittier, bleaker (and, occasionally, funnier) than I had expected, and—the acid test—I suspect it would do well even if its author's name weren't J.K.

"[17] The Telegraph lauded the novel as well, writing, "One marvels at the skill with which Rowling weaves such vivid characters in and out of each other's lives, rendering them so complex and viscerally believable that one finds oneself caring for the worst of them.

"[26] The Daily Telegraph maintained the novel was humorous but said "The novel pretty much explodes towards the end, losing shape in its fury at the dirty, unfair England that we Muggles have made for ourselves.

It was the second biggest adult opening of all time in the United Kingdom, falling short of Dan Brown's 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol, which sold 550,946 copies.

It also fell short of Rowling's last release, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that sold 2.6 million copies and became the fastest-selling book in history.

[2] Little, Brown and Company has announced that within the first three weeks the book's total sales had topped one million copies in English in all formats across all territories, including the US and the UK.

Avtar Singh Makkar, the head of India's Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, commented that Rowling's book would be examined by the scrutiny board of SGPC for anything objectionable.