Virago wins a 'passionate' five-way auction for Natural Disaster by Lisa Owens

Virago has won a "passionate" five-way auction for Natural Disaster by Lisa Owens.

Publisher Sarah Savitt acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Natural Disaster, plus another untitled novel, by Owens from Jane Finigan at Lutyens & Rubinstein. Virago will publish the book in July 2026, with a "major and ambitious" campaign.

"Unfolding across 24 hours, Natural Disaster is a propulsive, darkly funny and sharply observed novel which charts one woman’s increasingly desperate attempts to spend a last, special day with her children before returning to the ‘real world’ of her office job," the synopsis says.

Savitt said: "I feel incredibly lucky to be publishing Natural Disaster. Lisa Owens is such a talented writer. I was laughing from the first page and then finished the novel with tears in my eyes. It’s already a massive word-of-mouth hit within the Virago and Little, Brown offices and we can’t wait to share it with readers."

Owens added: "I’m thrilled to be working with Sarah and the team on Natural Disaster, a novel about the extraordinary pressures of ordinary life. I feel so fortunate to have found such a wonderful home at Virago, whose books have played no small part in shaping me as a reader and writer."