Lisa Owens

'Hilarious, brilliant, utterly exhilarating' MONICA ALI'Funny, sharp unputdownable' NINA STIBBE'Fantastic' JESSIE BURTON'Very funny and very, very relatable' STYLIST, 2026 BEST FICTION PICKS'An extremely funny book that's both perceptive and propulsive' ADAM KAYFor 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.'I absolutely loved it' LUCY DIAMOND'Compulsive, agonising, and hilarious' CHRIS POWER'Brilliant, hilarious, gut-punchingly truth-telling' EMILY ITAMI'The funniest novel I've read in years' CLAIRE POWELL'Thunderously good' NATHAN FILER'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'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

Now and again we all lie awake wondering what on earth we're doing with our lives . . . don't we?Claire Flannery has had more than a few sleepless nights lately. Maybe she shouldn't have walked out of her job with no idea what to do next. Maybe she should think before she speaks -- and maybe then her mother would start returning her calls. Maybe she should be spending more time going to art galleries, or reading up on current affairs, and less time in her pyjamas, entering competitions on the internet. Then again, maybe the perfect solution to life's problems only arises when you stop looking for it . . .'Warmth and wit leaps off the pages . . . sharp, incisive and laugh-out-loud funny'Observer

Claire Flannery has quit her job in order to discover her true vocation - only to realize she has no idea how to go about finding it. Whilst everyone around her seems to have their lives entirely under control, Claire finds herself sinking under pressure and wondering where her own fell apart. 'It's fine,' her grandmother says. 'I remember what being your age was like - of course, I had four children under eight then, but modern life is different, you've got an awful lot on.' Sharp, tender and funny, Lisa Owen's brilliantly observed debut Not Working is the story of a life unravelling and a novel that asks the questions we've never dared to say out loud.