Career
Brown spent a decade working in financial services, after studying mathematics at the University of Cambridge. [3]
In 2023, Brown was named on Granta's Best of Young British Novelists list, compiled every 10 years since 1983, identifying the 20 most significant British novelists aged under 40. [4] The judging panel comprised Tash Aw, Rachel Cusk, Brian Dillon and Helen Oyeyemi, chaired by Granta editor Sigrid Rausing. [5]
Assembly
Brown developed Assembly after receiving a 2019 London Writers Award in the literary fiction category. [2] It was published in hardcover format in the UK through Hamish Hamilton on 3 June 2021; Penguin also released an ebook and audiobook dictated by Pippa Bennett-Warner. [6] [7] Later she released it via Little, Brown and Company in the US on 14 September 2021, along with an ebook. [8]
The novel received acclaim from several publications. [9] [10] [11] Its economy of language is frequently mentioned as one of its strengths, with Brown's tight prose often being described as "precise" and "crisp." [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
Literary Hub 's Emily Temple compiled a comprehensive assessment of critic attitudes towards literature from 2021 calling it an "Ultimate Best Books of 2021 List"; she determined that altogether four mainstream magazines and outlets explicitly named the novel as a critical or important work on their own platforms' end-of-the-year lists. [18] These consisted of The Guardian 's Top Fiction of 2021, [19] Publisher Weekly 's Top 10 Books of 2021, [20] The Washington Post 's 50 Notable Works of Fiction of 2021 [21] and The Philadelphia Inquirer 's Best Books of 2021. [22] It also made an appearance on The Atlantic 's 20 Best Books of 2021. [23]
It was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Readers' Award, Goldsmiths Prize, Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, British Book Award for debut book, Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, and The Writers' Prize; it also won a Betty Trask Award. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [2]
Other works
Brown's second novel, Universality , was published by Faber & Faber on 13 March 2025. [29] [30] Reviewing the novel in The Guardian, Jo Hamya wrote: "Brown is one of our most intelligent voices writing today, able to block out the short-term chatter around both identity and language in order to excavate much more uncomfortable truths." [31] Alex Clark's review described the novel as "terrific", going on to say: "Brown is a talented satirist, for sure, and her commitment to contemporary detail is impressive." [32]
On 29 July 2025, Universality was announced as one of 13 titles on the longlist of the Booker Prize. [33] [34]
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