An extract from Universality by Natasha Brown
‘‘White men,’ Lenny told him, those eyes sparkling, ‘that’s who. White men have it hardest these days’’
A twisty, slippery descent into the rhetoric of truth and power
‘Remember – words are your weapons, they’re your tools, your currency.’
Late one night on a Yorkshire farm, a man is brutally bludgeoned with a solid gold bar.
A plucky young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement. She solves the mystery, but her viral longread exposé raises more questions than it answers.
Through a voyeuristic lens, Universality focuses on words: what we say, how we say it, and what we really mean. The follow-up novel to Natasha Brown’s Assembly is a compellingly nasty celebration of the spectacular force of language. It dares you to look away.
Natasha Brown
About the Author
Natasha Brown is an English novelist, whose debut novel Assembly won a Betty Trask award in 2022We were particularly impressed by the book’s ability to discomfit and entertain, qualities that mark Universality as a bold and memorable achievement
— The Booker Prize 2025 judges
What the judges said
‘Natasha Brown’s Universality is a compact yet sweeping satire. Told through a series of shifting perspectives, it reveals the contradictions of a society shaped by entrenched systems of economic, political, and media control. Brown moves the reader with cool precision from Hannah, a struggling freelancer, through to Lenny, an established columnist, unfurling through both of them an examination of the ways language and rhetoric are bound with power structures. We were particularly impressed by the book’s ability to discomfit and entertain, qualities that mark Universality as a bold and memorable achievement.’
What the critics said
Jo Hamya, Guardian
‘Brown is one of our most intelligent voices writing today, able to block out the short-term chatter around both identity and language in order to excavate much more uncomfortable truths. And despite how genuinely satisfying it is to watch her deconstruct the world as we know it now, Universality arouses in me an excitement over what could happen should she ever choose to stray from social realism. What should we be doing with language? How might things look otherwise?’
Wendy Holden, Daily Mail
‘A proper old-fashioned state-of-the-nation satire is a rare beast these days. This one embraces new targets such as demagogue columnists and eco-warriors alongside more traditional heartless capitalists. Brown’s target is the modern writing market, whether it’s earnest Left-wing reporting, Right-wing bully pulpits or the politics of literary festivals. A sharp, clever take on contemporary culture.’
Kate Preziosi, Brooklyn Rail
‘With Universality, Brown has cemented herself as a writer who separates text from subtext with devastating clarity. I wish that reading this book were like looking into a fun house mirror that exaggerates our society’s worst features for laughs. Instead, as Brown intends, it’s simply a mirror.’
