In her first novel published since the Harry Potter series and her first novel for adults, Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award winner J.K. Rowling delves into local politics with a story that promises to be thought-provoking and blackly comic. When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. With its cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, Pagford would seem to be an English idyll but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. The well-heeled are at war with the have-nots, teenagers are at war with their parents, wives are at war with their husbands—and the empty town council seat left by Barry soon becomes the catalyst for the greatest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations?