Universality

Three-Sentence Summary

A freelance journalist named Hannah investigates a brutal assault at a COVID-era rave on a Yorkshire farm, unearthing a tapestry of power, privilege, and ideological conflict.
The novel shifts perspective through interlocking narratives—Hannah, the disgraced banker, provocative columnist “Lenny,” and others—revealing how language is wielded as currency, weapon, and tool.
With razor-sharp satire, Natasha Brown interrogates how stories are crafted, consumed, and weaponized within contemporary culture and media ecosystems.

Extended Summary

Universality by Natasha Brown opens with a visceral scene: at a clandestine farm rave during the pandemic, a man is nearly killed with a solid gold bar. The incident sparks a viral long-read penned by Hannah, a struggling freelance journalist, which becomes a ladder to professional success and personal upheaval.

The novel unfolds across five sections, each channeling a distinct voice and perspective: the feature article (“A Fool’s Gold”), Hannah’s reflection on her newfound status and the fallout among university friends, banker Richard Spencer’s guilt and unraveling, columnist Miriam “Lenny” Leonard’s calculated rise to mainstream infamy, and finally, Lenny’s singular voice as she literally re-engineers the narrative in her favor.

Through this structure, Brown creates a meta-commentary on storytelling itself. The characters are emblematic of modern British society—a disgraced capitalist, a manipulative media personality, a radical commune member—each deploying narrative to shape public opinion or mask personal motives. Language becomes a form of capital, blunt force, and obfuscation, with lines from Lenny like “words are your weapons, they’re your tools, your currency” articulating both character and thematic force.

Brown’s prose is tight, witty, and devoid of easy heroes. Instead, she presents a mirror held up to a fractured media climate where truth is fluid, voices clamor for authenticity, and everyone is complicit in their own spectacle. Rich with class critique, the novel dissects privilege, woke capitalism, radical zeal, and social mobility within a pandemic-scarred Britain.

By the end, Universality works less as a whodunit than as a hall of mirrors—each narrative undermines the previous one, leaving readers questioning how narratives are constructed and who ultimately controls the story.

Key Points

Narrative as power: Brown emphasizes that storytelling itself is a form of power—those who tell the story often shape reality.
Fragmented truth: Each perspective shifts "the truth" of the central event, illustrating the instability of fact in media-driven culture.
Class, media, and capitalism: The novel critiques how language and privilege coalesce to reinforce systems of power, from woke capitalism to populist outrage.

Who Should Read

Universality will likely resonate with readers of sharp literary fiction interested in media critique, political satire, and narrative structure. Those who enjoyed Rachel Cusk’s structural innovation, Zadie Smith’s social insight, or Jennifer Egan’s narrative playfulness will find a lot to unpack here. It's ideal for readers who relish ambiguity and dissolve in their own assumptions—this isn’t a comforting read, but a provocative one.

About the Author