J.K. Rowling's highly-anticipated follow-up to the Harry Potter series finally has a title, release date, and synopsis.  Rowling's first adult novel will be entitled The Casual Vacancy and is set to hit bookshelves (and presumably e-books) on September 27th.  The book will be Rowling's first novel since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in 2007.  Hit the jump for the synopsis.

The book's publisher, Little, Brown, released this synopsis to The Wall Street Journal:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little 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?

Sooooo…no polyjuice potions.

Aside from the obvious difference in terms of the plot, it also looks like Rowling has changed up her plot structure.  While the events of Harry Potter were seen almost entirely from Harry's point-of-view, The Casual Vacancy doesn't seem like it has a single protagonist.

The Casual Vacancy may not have Rowling's beloved characters, but it's worth noting that Rowling's writing grew by leaps and bounds over the course of writing Harry Potter.  It may be a radical departure from the adventures of the Boy Who Lived, but that's mostly why I'm so excited for her next novel.