Natural Disaster is about the absurd, frustrating, hilarious, precarious, bittersweet, sometimes astonishing challenge—literal and existential—of being a woman, a mother, a wife, a person for one single, entire day.
LitStackers! Line up for this one. In presale now, Little, Brown and Company will release Natural Disaster by Lisa Owens on July 7, 2026. Early word suggests an immersive and exciting novel. While details remain scarce, the publisher’s description and the cover art hint at a reading experience that will linger long after you turn the last page. Here’s the scoop and early praise on this next must-read. Dip into the book fund for this one!
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About Natural Disaster
Unfolding across 24 hours, this is a propulsive, funny and sharply observed 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.
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?
A high-octane Mrs. Dalloway for our hectic times, Natural Disaster is “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, author of The Shock of the Fall).
Praise for Natural Disaster
“A Mrs. Dalloway for our era, Natural Disaster is hard not to race through. Marrying humor, tension, and so much realness of raising two under four, Natural Disaster bursts out of the gate and doesn’t stop galloping until the final page. Relatable on so many levels, parents and non-parents will devour this novel.”—Marie Claire
“A smart and painfully relatable tale of a new mother’s anxieties…Owens is an excellent anthropologist of new motherhood, her prose is nuanced and funny, and [Natural Disaster]…builds by gradual accumulation of detail to a surprisingly weighty denouement. It’s a keen-eyed narrative.”—Publishers Weekly
“[A]t once wryly funny and analytical, dissecting 21st-century middle-class motherhood with aplomb…The neuroses of motherhood are laid bare in this witty and poignant novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
“I absolutely loved [Natural Disaster]…A forensic, agonizingly relatable account of the highs and lows and in-betweens of one whole ordinary day in a life with two small children. Funny, dark, absurd, pin-sharp, insightful, propulsive, unputdownable.”—Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina
“Lisa Owens lays bare the pains, perils, and joys of motherhood, all captured over the course of a single day. Hilarious, brilliant, utterly exhilarating.”—Monica Alli, author of Love Marriage
“A profoundly relatable novel, Natural Disaster captures the joy amid the tedium of caretaking. Interrogating her heroine’s fears and neuroses, Owens offers refreshing insights into motherhood, marriage, and what it means to be a family.”—Emily Adrian, author of Seduction Theory
“Eminently readable, recognizable, and reassuring. I read this in a day. One Dalloway-esque day, a million catastrophes, the intense highs and lows of being a mother, a partner, a woman in this world. It’s fantastic.”—Jessie Burton, author of The House of Fortune
“Brilliant, hilarious, gut-punchingly truth-telling.”—Emily Itami, author of Fault Lines
“Lisa Owens mines gold from the smallest details of life. Natural Disaster is 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, author of The Shock of the Fall
“If you have ever spent a difficult hour—let alone a difficult day—with young children, I promise you that you will love Natural Disaster. It’s hilarious and honest and so astute about the quotidian frustrations of motherhood and marriage. There were times I wondered if Lisa had somehow managed to get inside my head and read my thoughts. It’s a blisteringly good read.”—Hannah Beckerman, author of If Only I Could Tell You
About Lisa Owens, Author of Natural Disaster
Lisa Owens is a novelist and screenwriter. She was born in England to Irish parents, and grew up in Scotland and Hertfordshire. Her debut novel Not Working was published to wide acclaim in 2016 and was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. Her second novel Natural Disaster will be published by Little, Brown and Company in July 2026. Her short fiction has appeared in the Irish literary magazine The Stinging Fly. Lisa’s first screenplay Days of the Bagnold Summer was nominated for a BIFA (Best Debut Screenwriter). She lives in London with her family.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN Paperback 9780316596411
Pub Date: July 7, 2026
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