For Adults
Fundamentally, the powerful, gripping and funny debut novel by Nussaibah Younis, has been chosen for the Radio 2 Book Club with Sara Cox. You can listen to the live interview with Nussaibah on BBC Sounds from 18 March.
We have the chance for you to win a set of 10 copies of this novel for your book club. To apply, click on the link below and email us to say why your group would like to read the book. UK residents only, deadline for entries 4 April 2025.
Not yet a member of Reading Groups for Everyone? Sign up now.
Fundamentally
When academic Nadia is disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, 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.
But then Nadia meets Sara, a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen, and she is struck by how similar their stories are. Both from a Muslim background, both feisty and opinionated, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines, Sara and Nadia immediately connect and a powerful friendship forms. When Sara confesses a secret, Nadia is forced to make a difficult choice.
A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion, radicalism, and the decisions we make in pursuit of connection and belonging, Fundamentally upends and explores a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour – delivered by one of the most fearless and talented new voices in contemporary fiction.
