If you enjoy vicariously cringey situations, I have a book for you. Step into 24 hours in the life of Natwest, a arrogant, anxious, and once-promising scholar who lost his way after he failed his A-levels, subsequently forcing him to remain in his home town, living with his mother, while his peers went on to university. He just knows that he’s the hero of this story, brilliant and destined for better things, if only he could pass those pesky exams.
Finally, 4 years later, he is packing to leave for university in the big city. There is just one thing left to do: accept delivery of a package. It’s scheduled to be delivered the morning before his departure for school, and while Natwest has received email confirmation of its arrival on his front step, it’s nowhere to be found when he steps out the front door. A trip to the local post office reveals that his parcel was just waylaid in the backroom, along with the package his dentist (and mother’s boss) is waiting to pick up at the same time.
Leaving the post office, Natwest quickly discovers that he has been handed the dentist’s package, containing an impressive set of diamond earrings. This of course means that said dentist is presumably tearing into the decidedly NSFW object Natwest would rather no one else know about. Thus, our hero must set off on one final quest before embarking on the journey of the rest of his life: get his package back before the local dentist hands it off to Natwest’s mum.
Along the way, he is forced to engage with other townfolk, both well-known and strangers, all with awkward (and often agonizing) secrets of their own: his grumpy old neighbor, his former favorite teacher, his mum, his ex, his mum’s ex, a sobbing teen girl, an imam, an aged vaudeville star, and of course, the dentist. In alternating chapters told from the various characters’ points-of-view, we’re reminded that you can never truly know what’s going on it someone else’s head, nor do you probably want to most of the time. But also, often the best thing you can do for your own mental health is to get out of your own head, and engage with the world – sometimes, you just need to leave the house.
Newman, Nathan. (2024). How To Leave the House: a novel. Viking.
