The hallowed neo-liberal dogma of the ‘rugged individual’ clawing their way to professional attainment and wealth is a legend continually held out towards those striving to achieve in Britain, especially those who come from elsewhere to do so. The narrator – a young Black woman – has imbibed the fable of the ‘good immigrant’ who forges a better life for themselves and achieves material success through sheer hard work and quiet assimilation. I wonder whether that is because she sits too closely to the writer’s own experience of working for a City monolith, or because she is synecdoche for all those outside the white male norm existing in similar situations. In a tightly focused, almost claustrophobic text where it often feels difficult for both the narrator and the reader to breathe, the sun never sets on the fabled construction known as Empire, the ripple effects of which continue to underpin the lives of Black and minority ethnic people.īrown’s main character is nameless. There’s hard work, pulling up laces, rolling up shirtsleeves, and forcing yourself’ says the protagonist of Natasha Brown’s novella, Assembly. This is a book about myths, stories that become myths and the fictions that we tell ourselves in order to endure. Natasha Brown’s powerful, deftly written debut explodes neoliberal myths of meritocratic success and reveals the stark reality faced by young Black women when attempting to make it to the top.
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