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Natural Disaster

'Mrs Dalloway meets Motherland' (The Times) in this hilariously relatable, sharply observed new novel from the author of NOT WORKING

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Pub Date 25 Jun 2026 | Archive Date 25 Jun 2026


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Description

*As featured on BBC Radio 4 Front Row*
'Perfectly observed comedy ... almost every line is a zinger' DAILY MAIL, 27 best page turners for the summer
'A joy' STYLIST, BOOK OF THE MONTH
'I cannot recommend this strongly enough for your summer reading' AMOL RAJAN
'Deeply relatable comedy' GUARDIAN, 70 brilliant books for the summer
'I really loved this book' Viv Groskop, BBC Radio 4 Front Row
'Hilarious, brilliant, utterly exhilarating' MONICA ALI
'Like Mrs Dalloway with Calpol . . . very, very funny' THE TIMES

For weeks, she has been saying it will be their special day. One last, perfect day with her children before she returns to work after maternity leave. What's the worst that can happen?

Unfolding across 24 hours, Natural Disaster is a novel about the absurd, frustrating, hilarious, precarious, bittersweet, sometimes astonishing challenge - literal, existential - of being a woman, a mother, a wife, a person for one single, entire day.

'An extremely funny book that's both perceptive and propulsive' ADAM KAY
'Funny, sad, tender' IRISH TIMES
'Fantastic' JESSIE BURTON
'Funny, moving . . . A powerful addition to the literature of surviving procreation' DIANA EVANS, GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY
'Funny and relatable, it captures the overwhelming, absurd and quietly extraordinary reality of motherhood' WOMAN & HOME
'Funny, sharp unputdownable' NINA STIBBE
'Hilarious . . . brilliantly sharp' RED MAGAZINE
'I did not give Lisa Owens permission to look inside my very soul but she seems to have done it anyway. Smart, wise and real' CLAIRE LYNCH
'Captures the absurdity, tenderness and frazzle of modern motherhood with acute, painfully recognisable humour' iPaper, Best Books for June
'I absolutely loved it' LUCY DIAMOND
'Spiky wit and unsentimental pathos . . . I laughed out loud' DAILY MAIL
'Compulsive, agonising, and hilarious' CHRIS POWER
'Anyone who has raised children will feel deeply seen by this fully realised portrait of family life, identity and survival' WOMAN'S OWN
'The funniest novel I've read in years' CLAIRE POWELL
'Brilliant, hilarious, gut-punchingly truth-telling' EMILY ITAMI
'Thunderously good' NATHAN FILER
'A genuinely dazzling novel' DAVID WHITEHOUSE
'This is the book I've been waiting for ever since I had children. So propulsive I read it in a single sitting' MARIANNE LEVY
'Destined to become a classic' JESSICA STANLEY
'What a perfect depiction of early motherhood, womanhood, and love' OLIVIA POTTS
'I absolutely adored it.' EMMA HUGHES
'Generous, funny, heartbreaking and clever' LIZZY STEWART

*As featured on BBC Radio 4 Front Row*
'Perfectly observed comedy ... almost every line is a zinger' DAILY MAIL, 27 best page turners for the summer
'A joy' STYLIST, BOOK OF THE MONTH
'I cannot...


Advance Praise

'I absolutely loved it . . . Funny, dark, absurd, pin-sharp, insightful, propulsive, unputdownable' NINA STIBBE

'Utterly exhilarating - every page blazes with truth, hilarity, perception and love. Natural Disaster is destined to become a classic' JESSICA STANLEY

'A thunderously good novel - the kind that makes you rock with laughter, shed a genuine tear, and immediately think of which friends you're going to lend it to first' NATHAN FILER

'Generous, funny, heartbreaking and clever - a parenting caper with profound emotional clarity. I loved it' LIZZY STEWART

'I absolutely loved it . . . Funny, dark, absurd, pin-sharp, insightful, propulsive, unputdownable' NINA STIBBE

'Utterly exhilarating - every page blazes with truth, hilarity, perception and love...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780349020235
PRICE £16.99 (GBP)
PAGES 208

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