Paperback edition of J.K. Rowling's much publicised first adult novel. When Barry Fairweather dies suddenly and unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. The empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has ever seen... A big novel about a small town, this is blackly comic, highly thought-provoking, and constantly surprising.