Natasha Brown caused something of a critical splash with her debut novel ‘Assembly’ and she’s followed it with another tale that is sure to glean further plaudits. It begins with a piece of longform journalism, detailing the events that happened in 2020 at a farm in Yorkshire. The farm is owned by Richard, a London investment banker. He doesn’t live at the farm and consequently it’s taken over by a bunch of anarchists calling themselves “Universalists”. One night, there’s a confrontation and someone is battered over the head with a rather gauche gold bar. The article – written by a down on her luck hack called Hannah – gains traction and changes Hannah’s fortunes for the better. But, as the rest of the novel details, not everything she’s written strictly adds up. It’s a clever and satirical story that pokes fun at opinion makers who are less interested in tackling problems than they are in hot-button takes and clicks. RM

Published by Faber