Natural Disaster
'Mrs Dalloway meets Motherland' (The Times) in this hilariously relatable, sharply observed new novel from the author of NOT WORKING
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 Months Free
£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
Natural Disaster
Narrated by:
Katherine Parkinson
Buy Now for £17.94
-
Narrated by:
-
Katherine Parkinson
-
By:
-
Lisa Owens
'Hilarious, brilliant, utterly exhilarating' MONICA ALI
'Sharply observed and deeply relatable comedy' GUARDIAN, 70 brilliant books for the summer
'Funny, sad, tender and perfectly observed' IRISH 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.
'Fantastic' JESSIE BURTON
'Hilarious ... brilliantly sharp' RED MAGAZINE
'A joy' STYLIST, BOOK OF THE MONTH
'An extremely funny book that's both perceptive and propulsive' ADAM KAY
'Funny, sharp unputdownable' NINA STIBBE
'Both sobering and celebratory, this novel is a powerful addition to the literature of surviving procreation' DIANA EVANS, GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY
'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
'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©2026 Lisa Owens
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
Critic reviews
Sharply observed and deeply relatable comedy
Like Mrs Dalloway with Calpol . . . very, very funny . . . Like all good comedy writers, she nails the details
Hilarious
Funny, sad, tender and perfectly observed ... I suspect a lot of readers will come away from this novel feeling understood in a way that's genuinely rare (Thomas Morris)
Funny, moving ... Both sobering and celebratory, this novel is a powerful addition to the literature of surviving procreation (Diana Evans)
Told with comic precision ... razor sharp ... Owens captures the shifting sands that women are required to navigate ... It's a relief and a joy to see the contradictions of modern life so fully articulated
Hilarious, but also a brilliantly sharp commentary on the many demands of modern life
Beautifully observed, deliciously funny
Funny and relatable, it captures the overwhelming, absurd and quietly extraordinary reality of motherhood
Plenty of female novelists have written about the nightmarish disorientations of early parenthood. Few have done so with the comic finesse Owens applies here ... Owens ploughs well-trodden territory with spiky wit and unsentimental pathos .... I laughed out loud
Fabulously told
Owens captures the absurdity, tenderness and frazzle of modern motherhood with acute, painfully recognisable humour
Very funny
Owens perfectly captures the banalities of solo parenting and the internalised sense of judgement that mums often feel
I absolutely loved it . . . A forensic, agonisingly 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)
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 Ali)
An extremely funny book that's both perceptive and propulsive. Triggering, in all the best ways, for anyone who's ever had small children in their lives (Adam Kay)
I absolutely loved it. The joy, the madness, the pettiness, love and ingenuity of a day with two small children is brilliantly observed. Lisa Owens asks what it is to be a mother - and this is the answer. Perceptively, tenderly told, every page provokes humour, recognition, great empathy and often all three at once. The ordinary becomes the extraordinary in Lisa Owens' writing (Lucy Diamond)
Eminently readable, recognisable 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)
KP at her best
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.