Fundamentally

Nussaibah Younis

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

A wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION'A NEW NAME TO WATCH OUT FOR' THE TIMES 'THE DEBUT OF THE YEAR' STYLIST 'ELECTRIC' GUARDIAN

A wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging. '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.'Funny, gripping and compassionate' DOLLY ALDERTON'Not only hysterically funny but trenchant and necessary. I loved it' INDIA KNIGHT'A raunchy, irreverent, touching and daring debut' PARINI SHROFF'Essential reading' JONATHAN COE'A breath of fresh air' MARIAN KEYES'Original, funny and fearless' NINA STIBBE

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