What is the title of J.K. Rowling’s 2012 novel about a contested local council seat?

J.K. Rowling’s 2012 novel about a contested local council seat is The Casual Vacancy.

The title refers to the vacant parish-council position created by the death of Barry Fairbrother. In British local government terminology, a “casual vacancy” is an opening that occurs during an elected officeholder’s term rather than at the normal end of an election cycle. Rowling uses that civic term as the organizing idea for the novel.

The fictional setting is Pagford, a small English town divided by disagreements about class, public services, and the neighbouring Fields estate. Barry Fairbrother had argued for continued support for the Fields, so his absence changes the political balance and intensifies existing conflicts among residents.

The book is a standalone adult novel, not a Harry Potter continuation. It was Rowling’s first novel published after the final Harry Potter book and was adapted by the BBC in 2015. The adaptation presented the story as a three-part television drama.