The Casual Vacancy

This is a wonderful novel. JK Rowling's skills as a storyteller are on a par with RL Stevenson, Conan Doyle and PD James. Here, they are combined with her ability to create memorable and moving characters to produce a state-of-England novel driven by tenderness and fury - Melvyn Bragg, The ObserverA needle-sharp and darkly comic expose of today's class-ridden society . . . A highly readable morality tale for our times - Emma Lee-Potter, Daily ExpressThe Casual Vacancy is a stunning, brilliant, outrageously gripping and entertaining evocation of British society today. [J.K. Rowling] has done a rather brave thing and pulled it off magnificently - Henry Sutton, The MirrorOne marvels at the skill with which Rowling weaves such vivid characters in and out of each other's lives - Christopher Brookmyre, The Daily TelegraphHeartbreaking - turning the page seems unbearable, but not as much as putting down the book would be - Deepti Hajela, Associated PressAn exquisite and occasionally moving black comedy . . . The acid test - I suspect it would do well even if its author's name weren't J.K. Rowling - David Robinson, ScotsmanA big, ambitious, brilliant, profane, funny, deeply upsetting and magnificently eloquent novel of contemporary England . . . This is a deeply moving book by somebody who understands both human beings and novels very, very deeply - Lev Grossman, Time MagazineInsightful, meaningful, daring and resolutely challenging to tabloid assumptions regarding the moral worth of individuals - Scotland on Sunday