UNIVERSALITY by Natasha Brown

Natasha Brown’s Assembly was hands down the best debut I’ve read in years. A fizzing bomb under the velvet-cushioned chairs of British society, it exploded with energy, passion, rage and intelligence. It was also a bloody great story. When I heard Brown’s sophomore effort was in the offing, I almost pished my pants.

Universality arrives with a bang. Or maybe a heavy thud. However you might describe the sound of a gold bullion being smashed into someone’s head. Ok, I was on board. This was going to be some brutal takedown of the British class system cloaked in a super cool murder mystery. Except the dude doesn’t die. And it’s no mystery. In fact, it’s hard to really say what Universality is because I got the distinct feeling Brown was in soapbox mode, albeit with a barrage of mixed messages. Yes, it’s about socio-economic inequality and the movements that are screwing with society (she uses the word ‘woke’ a lot). But it’s preachy. And clinical. And morally ambiguous.

There’s no doubt Universality is a smart book. And Brown can write wrings around most of her contemporaries. But it pales next to her incendiary debut. Read it but temper your expectations.

Universality by Natasha Brown
Faber, 2025
156 pages