Fundamentally

Nussaibah Younis

From Shelf: The 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist

A laugh-out-loud, unforgettable novel about ISIS brides, by debut author Nussaibah Younis

'FUNNY, GRIPPING AND COMPASSIONATE'DOLLY ALDERTON'A REAL TREAT . . . BASICALLY BRIDGET JONES IN IRAQ'THE TIMES 'THIS SMART, PUNCHY BOOK IS DESTINED TO SPARK CONVERSATION' IRISH TIMES

THE DEBUT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT | SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex? Nadia is an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues. Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen. Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for. A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging, Fundamentally upends and explores a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour.'TACKLES RADICALISM AND RACISM, FAITH AND FRIENDSHIP, WITH DEXTERITY, DEEP CARE AND A LARGE DOSE OF LAUGHTER'GUARDIAN'THE DEBUT OF THE YEAR'STYLIST'ORIGINAL, FUNNY AND FEARLESS'NINA STIBBE

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