In the idyllic small town of Pagford a councillor dies and leaves a "casual vacancy" - an empty seat on the Parish Council. In the election for his successor that follows, it is clear that behind the pretty surface this is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, wives at war with husbands, teachers at war with pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems. From the smallest of elections in a sleepy British town, J.K.Rowling conjures an epic, emotional and compulsively readable tale that has had millions of readers hooked.