Fundamentally

''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