'Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Tackles Rape, Racism & Drug Use In New Book

Don't expect famed author J.K. Rowling's next novel to be suitable for the Hogwartz crowd.

The Casual Vacancy, the first adult novel by the woman famous for the Harry Potter series, contains situations involving rape, racism, pornography, self mutilation, suicide, domestic violence, hard drug use, a character who contemplates child abuse, and detailed sex scenes.

In Huffington Post's review of the book, they describe The Casual Vacancy as the events that occur in the fictional town of Pagford, after the shocking the death of Barry Fairbrother—a local council member, coach of the local girls' rowing team, and a supporter of local and civic responsibility on behalf of the residents of The Fields (the local housing project where Fairbrother grew up).

This seems like a new literary path for Rowling to travel down. While Huffington summarized the book as a "good, though not great, book about small-town, small-minded England," you'll have to take a read for yourself.

The Casual Vacancy is out today in bookstores.