Not for nothing is Rowling termed a master narrator.
With 'Casual Vacancy', Rowling has cleverly reversed the universe her characters are set in. What was Privet Drive like when the wizards and witches were away at Hogwarts attending school? We've barely tolerated them because the main action was happening elsewhere - at Hogwarts. The unpleasant aunt Petunia, the foul and abusive uncle Vernon, the obnoxious Marjorie Dursley, the squib Arabella Figg, teachers at Harry's first school utterly baffled by his ability to get into trouble without trying to, his school mates, the school bullies, muggle parents of Harry's Hogwarts friends, his ham-fisted cousin Dudley - they've all crossed our path from time to time. We've met the half-sinister, half-ridiculous inhabitants of Privet Drive from time to time. For years, we were roaming the dark and dank corridors of Hogwarts with Harry and his wizard friends oblivious to what was going on at Privet Drive while school term was on. With 'Casual Vacancy', the story of which was guarded better than the Buckingham Palace, Rowling has turned the world of Potter fans upside down. And once it did, the signs were strewn all over the pages of the book. It wasn't until three-fourth of the book was over that the idea began to form. This has a lot of spoilers so those who haven't read Casual Vacancy yet, would do well to avoid this piece altogether.
Imagine a muggle Harry Potter, complete with his decency, sense of justice and considerable insecurities, albeit with a different name, living permanently at Privet Drive attending a muggle school - this is the story of Andrew Price, of Casual Vacancy. But this could have been the opening to her debut adult novel 'Casual Vacancy'. This is not an extract from JK Rowling's now immortal Harry Potter series. As she climbed the single flight of stairs down to her immaculate kitchen, that uneasiness about how her husband Vernon, who was so quick to work up a murderous rage regarding anything concerning Harry, would receive the news of shifting the boy to a local school now that he was 11, remained. She had been watchful these 11 years and had come to believe that Harry was, in fact, not magic. She had a premonition of something terrible about to happen to her ever since she received an owl from Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 11 years ago, asking her to look out for the signs. A strange uneasiness woke Petunia Dursley up much before the diffused rays of the sun swept the manicured lawns of 7, Privet Drive, Little Whinging.
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