Universality

Words carry power. In Natasha Brown’s second novel, we open up to an unravelling mystery involving a missing gold bar and a violent incident occurring at an illegal rave during lockdown. This first section of the novel, titled ‘A Fool’s Gold’, was the highlight of the book for me, introducing the various characters we will encounter throughout via an exposé article written by an ambitious journalist intent on solving the mystery. Yet the article also provokes more questions than answers. Why was it written? How much of it was true?

Each section afterwards shifts us between the perspectives of the article writer and its subjects, revealing through a voyeuristic lens the different biases and interpretations each character has of the events. Though a short book, Universality is one that calls for careful comprehension and is most rewarding when you soak up the words slowly, as every line is laced with hidden thoughts.

Brown offers a fascinating critique of the British media, politics and society. Using the gold bar as a metaphor, no single truth is exact; instead, truth is fragmented through different perspectives and we can begin to understand the power of how we use words. Each character, no matter how privileged, easily victimises themselves, forcing the reader to question their own biases.

Witty and charming, Brown takes this novel as a study of the current British climate (quite relevant here in Australia, however!) and challenges us to question how stories get told, and most importantly, whose stories get told.

Brown is an author for whom I would be on the lookout, and with her elegant prose and layers of meaning packed into seemingly simple sentences, I strongly urge you to pick up this novel as soon as you can – and to immediately read her first, Assembly, if you have not already!