Sex, drugs and village politics in J. K. Rowling's new novel
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LONDON (AFP) - Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling bids goodbye to the boy wizard on Thursday when she releases her first novel for adults, a gritty tale of poverty and politics in an idyllic English village.
With more than 450 million copies of the Potter books sold and fans feverishly excited about the British author's first major work since 2007, her new black comedy, titled The Casual Vacancy, is already a guaranteed success.
Pre-order sales have reportedly topped a million copies and British booksellers expect it to be the best-selling fiction title of the year.
"It's one of the biggest releases of the 21st century," Mr Philip Stone, charts editor at The Bookseller magazine, said. "I think 99.9 per cent of us (in the industry) are predicting it will go straight to number one."
