**A 2023 NEW YORK TIMES and WASHINGTON POST Notable Book and a BOSTON GLOBE Best Book of the Year** From the Ernest J. Gaines Award-winning author of Everywhere You Dont Belong a touching timely novel--called smart witty by the New York Times Book Review fascinating by the Boston Globe and wryly funny by People--about an attempt to found an underground utopia and the interwoven stories of those drawn to it. **Included in Fall Preview & Most-Anticipated Lists: New York Times Washington Post TIME The Boston Globe Chicago Tribune Vulture.com Esquire.com ELLE.com The Millions and Lit Hub** An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western Massachusetts doesnt look like much. But to Rio a young Black woman bereft after the loss of her newborn child this hill becomes more than a safe haven--it becomes a place to start over. She convinces her husband to help her construct a society underground somewhere safe somewhere everyone can feel loved wanted and accepted where the children learn actual history where everyone has an equal shot. She locates a Benefactor and soon their utopia begins to take shape. Two unhoused men hear about it and immediately begin their journey by bus from Chicago to get there. A young and disillusioned journalist stumbles upon it and wants in. And a former soccer player having lost his footing in society is persuaded to check it out too. But no matter how much these people all yearn for meaning and a sanctuary from the existential dread of life above the surface what happens if this new society cant actually work? What then? From one of the most exciting new literary voices out there The New Naturals is fresh and deeply perceptive capturing the absurdity of life in the 21st century for readers of Paul Beattys The Sellout and Jennifer Egans The Candy House. In this remarkable feat of imagination Bump shows us that ultimately it is our love for and connection to each other that will save us.
