It’s all systems go this afternoon as JK Rowling tweeted that her website is back online after being revamped at jkrowling.com. The site promptly crashed, and at the same time her publisher Little, Brown announced that one of the little handwritten notes on Jo’s site, which reads ‘The Casual Vacancy’, is to be the title of The New Book!

So, the need-to-know info: The Casual Vacancy will be released on Thursday 27th September 2012. It will be 480 pages long and has an RRP of £20 (ouch!). The plot centres around a town called Pagford where the death of a man called Barry Fairweather seems to incite a war amongst the residents.

The countdown is on- 168 days until we can get our hands on Jo’s new book! For more information visit Little, Brown’s website here.

As for the website, we have re-confirmation that Jo is working on a physical Harry Potter encyclopaedia, as we reported back in October. There is also a timeline showing important events in Jo’s life and surrounding Harry Potter, as well as news and events. In the background of the website are scribbles handwritten by Jo- some obviously related to Harry Potter, others a bit more mysterious!

We hope you’re all as excited about The Casual Vacancy and Jo’s website as we are!