On a remote island, far from the chaos that has engulfed the mainland, Kit and her companion Crevan eke out an existence. Under a collapsing castle, they spend their days in an underground bunker packed with emergency stores, venturing out only at night. They are safe.

One evening, however, a woman washes ashore, nearly drowned. Crevan wants to keep her alive, but Kit isn't so sure. The island's new arrival will implode Kit and Crevan's carefully guarded world, churning up the waters of the past and unearthing secrets they have kept from one another. And as the crisis brought about by the appearance of the drowned woman starts to consume them, the fictions of their shared existence crumble, and the truth begins to emerge.

Gripping, sinister and visceral, Whether Violent or Natural is an unforgettably dark and strikingly original debut by a major new talent.