The New Naturals

Included in Fall Preview & Most-Anticipated Lists: New York Times, Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Vulture.com, ELLE.com, The Millions, and Lit Hub

MOST ANTICIPATED: The Millions * Lit Hub

"A Blithedale Romance for the 21st century, only less naive and more complex.  Race, class and gender collide in all the ways they do in the so-called real world. Bump's prose is fresh and frequently surprising. This is funny, sad, sad-funny and funny-sad and just plain smart."

“The New Naturals is a tragicomedy for our times, exploring that age-old question of how to connect with our fellow human beings and build community, even as the world makes increasingly less sense. A tour-de-force, full of heart and asking the big questions about life and the mind.”
 

 
 

"Wry and astonishing … Brisk dialogue and flashes of mordant humor pay off, and Bump cannily grapples with such issues as gentrification, microaggressions, and environmental racism. This is a scalding study in human nature.”

"The New Naturals explores how grief can become aspiration, how aspiration can become wildness. Bump writes so tenderly about the human error endemic to man-made things---community, partnership, love."
 

“Bump captures our contemporary condition with grace… [A] sharp, imaginative novel”

“Gabriel Bump's brilliant and surprising novel The New Naturals takes us inside a utopian world and, even more deeply and wondrously, inside the souls of an impressive array of characters. Through them, Bump holds up a mirror to our own grief, longings, and rage in the face of a cruel, crumbling society. Intricate and intimate, Bump's prose is simply masterful.”

“A keenly observant work of literary fiction, revealing provocative insights into what happens when ideals, aspirations, and human fallibility collide.  I was both gripped and hypnotized by Bump’s distinctive voice, so unique I couldn’t help but reread passages just to relive its poetic cadence.  I flew through the pages.  I fell in love with characters who not only shared my concerns but hopes and sympathies as well. THE NEW NATURALS is bold, funny, dark and masterful.”
 
 

“Gorgeous and lyrical… An effecting, experimental tale of race and reinvention”

“Our booksellers have already devoured it. Bump has a knack for writing stories about human connection that leave us feeling hopeful. This won't be one to miss.”

“[An] ambitious and fascinating premise.”