This is a wonderful novel. JK Rowling's skills as a storyteller are on a par with RL Stevenson, Conan Doyle and PD James. Here, they are combined with her ability to create memorable and moving characters to produce a state-of-England novel driven by tenderness and fury * Melvyn Bragg, The Observer *
A needle-sharp and darkly comic expose of today's class-ridden society . . . A highly readable morality tale for our times * Emma Lee-Potter, Daily Express *
The Casual Vacancy is a stunning, brilliant, outrageously gripping and entertaining evocation of British society today. [J.K. Rowling] has done a rather brave thing and pulled it off magnificently * Henry Sutton, The Mirror *
One marvels at the skill with which Rowling weaves such vivid characters in and out of each other's lives * Christopher Brookmyre, The Daily Telegraph *
Heartbreaking - turning the page seems unbearable, but not as much as putting down the book would be * Deepti Hajela, Associated Press *
An exquisite and occasionally moving black comedy . . . The acid test - I suspect it would do well even if its author's name weren't J.K. Rowling * David Robinson, Scotsman *
A big, ambitious, brilliant, profane, funny, deeply upsetting and magnificently eloquent novel of contemporary England . . . This is a deeply moving book by somebody who understands both human beings and novels very, very deeply * Lev Grossman, Time Magazine *
Insightful, meaningful, daring and resolutely challenging to tabloid assumptions regarding the moral worth of individuals * Scotland on Sunday *
The action bowls along compellingly, most of the characters are vividly drawn and there are some sharp - often very sharp - observations about their social pretensions . . . a bold and distinctive effort * The Sunday Telegraph *
This is a novel of insight and skill, deftly drawn and, at the end, cleverly pulled together. It plays to her strengths as a storyteller * The Economist *
The Casual Vacancy is a brilliant novel, entertaining, intelligent, moving, passionate and hard-hitting; touching on familiar subjects but approaching them with great originality and skill. Moreover, it's unputdownable . . . The novel is a triumph * Irish Times *
Rowling is a great storyteller with a clear eye and a warm heart, and The Casual Vacancy is a moving and immensely pleasurable novel * Sunday Business Post Ireland *
Wrestles honourably and intelligently with big moral and political questions . . . a study of provincial life, with a large cast and multiple, interlocking plots, drawing inspiration from such writers as Trollope, Gaskell and, perhaps most of all, George Elliot . . . [the plot] is big, engrossing, and runs like clockwork * Guardian *
Rowling weaves a web of connections that resonate long after the book ends * Daily Express *
This is a book with a social conscience . . . Much lurks behind Pagford's idyllic facade * The Times *
Rowling once again shows her skill at laying bare the best and (more often) worst of human nature * Star Magazine *
A perfect holiday read * Best Magazine *
JK's first grown-up novel is an eminently-readable tale of small minds in small-town England * Bella *
