The Naturalist is a novella in two parts, but is the eponymous narrator also a man with two lives? After a chance encounter with a man who looks like Galen, his first love, the narrator reconsiders the violent impact of love.

Robert has moved to Peckham Rye to be close to the common and to satisfy his need for change. His developing relationship with Alex opens him to new experiences in which joy and sorrow go hand in hand.