J.K. Rowling's Adult, Post-'Harry Potter' Book Titled 'The Casual Vacancy,' Details Released

J.K. Rowling published the first book in her Harry Potter series in June 1997. Now, 15 years later, with her initial readers all grown up, she's sending them on a new, more mature journey. And it won't be so magically charming.

our editor recommends

BOOK REVIEW: 'Hunger Games' And 'Harry Potter' Publisher Scholastic Introduces New YA Series With 'The False Prince'

Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan, JK Rowling and Sienna Miller to Testify This Week at Phone Hacking Inquiry

'Harry Potter' eBooks Launch on Pottermore Website

The English author announced on Thursday that her first post-Potter novel will be called The Casual Vacancy and will be set in the seemingly idyllic town of Pagford, where, of course, a deeper truth makes it less serene than its British countryside setting would have it seem. Instead, within its town walls there are fierce squabbles of the economic class, generational and marital variety, all of which combine to set a dark comic tone (full synopsis below).

The novel will be released worldwide as both an e-book and hardbound novel on September 27 from publisher Little, Brown & Co.

PHOTOS: The Ten Best Book-to-Movie Adaptations of the Past 25 Years

Since the conclusion of the Potter series, with 2007's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling has overseen the final few Warner Bros.-produced movie adaptations and helped with the slow launch of the Pottermore online network, which officially launches wide this month. The seven Potter books were also just released for the first time in e-book format

The books, in their print formats, have sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, while the eight-part film saga, which wrapped last summer, grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.

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?