finished reading

From the editors: 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 town's 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?


I really didn't know what to expect from this book, except that it received mixed reviews. Maybe it's a good thing that I waited until the hype died down to read it. I enjoyed it--found myself sucked into the small town intrigue and the lives of the characters, how they wove together. It seems that a lot of people expected this book to be an adult Harry Potter, but this is a complete departure from that franchise. This is definitely a book for grown ups. Not children or young adults.

What I enjoy in Rowling's writing is her way with language. She creates characters who are real people, I knew these people. I'm excited to talk about this book with my reading group.