January 1987. Alix Bowen has moved away from London and her old friends Liz and Esther to South Yorkshire. Regularly visiting a serial killer in a high-security prison, her natural curiosity in his motives and character transforms into obsession as she begins to look to the murderer for answers about human nature and herself.

Meanwhile, now in their fifties, Liz, Esther and their friends come to question the society they live in more than ever as they navigate life in eighties London.

The second in a trilogy following on from The Radiant Way, A Natural Curiosity sees Margaret Drabble return with her brilliant and dark wit in this bold, generous and incisive portrait of modern Britain.