Fundamentally

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

Dr Nussaibah Younis is a peacebuilding practitioner and a globally recognised expert on contemporary Iraq. For several years, she advised the Iraqi government on proposed programs to de-radicalise women affiliated with ISIS. She studied at Oxford, Durham and Harvard Universities, and has a PhD in International Affairs. Dr Younis was a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, where she directed the Task Force on the Future of Iraq. She has published Op-Eds in the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She was born in the UK to an Iraqi father and a Pakistani mother, and currently lives in London.