A terrific second novel from the British author of Assembly examines what it means to be truthful – and who really benefits when facts come to lightMiriam Leonard, AKA Lenny, one of a tight core of characters at the heart of Natasha Brown’s terrific second novel, would probably dislike Universality intensely. Then again, she might love it, because an unpredictability of opinion is her stock in trade: a newspaper columnist who has recently sashayed from the comment pages of the Telegraph to those of the Observer, her views on class, race, sex, the economy and, latterly, the iniquity of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes are uncompromisingly held and vociferously broadcast, but only opaquely coherent. To keep moving is the trick.Lenny is making a better fist of survival than many of those around her, with her exceptionally neat formula for wooing readers, which involves alighting on a news story and making “a lofty comparison”: “Obscure elements of European history are best, b...
Natasha Brown's novel "Universality" explores the politics of storytelling through characters like columnist Lenny, disgraced banker Richard, and journalist Hannah. The novel centers around a lockdown rave incident and Hannah's article about it, which takes liberties with the facts, raising questions about truth and its consequences. The book satirizes contemporary society, media, and political trends.
