Fundamentally: A Novel

by Nussaibah Younis

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands a one-of-a-kind job offer in Iraq — only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself.

A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands in Iraq with a one-of-a-kind job offer—only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself.

*AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025*

When Nadia Amin, a witty and bighearted PhD, publishes an article on deradicalization, everything changes. The United Nations comes calling with an opportunity to put her theory into practice and lead a rehabilitation program for women caught in the crosshairs of harmful ideology. And why not? Abandoned by her mother and devastated by unrequited love, she leaps at the chance.

In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she’s in over her head. The UN is a mess of competing interests, and her team consists of Goody Two-shoes Sherri who never passes up an opportunity to remind Nadia of her objections; and Pierre, a snippy Frenchman who has no qualms about perpetually scrolling through Grindr. But then Nadia meets Sara, a hilarious, foul-mouthed East Londoner who was pulled into radicalism at just fifteen. The two are kindred spirits, and Nadia vows to get Sara home.

As the rehabilitation program picks up traction, Sara reveals a secret that upends everything, forcing Nadia to make a drastic choice. In the fallout, Nadia’s brown-savior fantasies crumble, leaving her to wonder if she can save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.

A fierce, wildly funny, and razor-sharp exploration of radicalism, family, and the quest for belonging, Fundamentally boldly inspects one of the defining controversies of our age and introduces a fearless new voice in contemporary fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593851401
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/25/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dr. Nussaibah Younis is a peace-building practitioner and a globally recognized expert on contemporary Iraq. She has a PhD in international affairs from Durham University in the UK and a BA in modern history and English from the University of Oxford. Dr. Younis was a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, where she directed the Future of Iraq Task Force and offered strategic advice to US government agencies on Iraq policy. Dr. Younis has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian, and has provided on-air commentary for the BBC and Al Jazeera. She was born in the United Kingdom to an Iraqi father and a Pakistani mother, and currently lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

Tart, tender, trenchant, and hilarious, Fundamentally is a brilliant novel about faith and friendship that refuses to be any one single thing—because it is EVERYTHING. Nussaibah Younis is a genius.”
—Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich

“Funny, gripping and compassionate; Fundamentally is a truly original novel that you won’t be able to put down.”
—Dolly Alderton, author of Good Material
 
“I really, REALLY loved it – the voice, the setting, the plot, all of it. It’s original, warm, funny and engaging. A breath of fresh air.”
—Marian Keyes, author of Again, Rachel
 
“Absolutely hilarious: a Muslim Fleabag.”
—Michelle Gallen, author of Factory Girls

“Impossibly funny whilst darkly probing, Fundamentally is the whole package: a raunchy, irreverent, touching, and daring debut with slicing commentary wrapped in bold, biting humor. It slyly and systematically rejects our swallowed concepts of hero's and who is correct, and posits instead the better question: what is right?”
—Parini Shroff, author of The Bandit Queens

“Fascinating. Brilliant. Necessary.”
Salma El-Wardany, author of These Impossible Things
 
“Loved this. Laugh out loud funny, outrageous and thought provoking—a winning combination. Highly recommend.”
—Harriet Tyce, author of Blood Orange

From the Publisher

2024-12-28
A comic novel about a U.N. program for ISIS brides.

Nadia Amin is a floundering academic going through a bad breakup and, if that weren’t enough, her relationship with her mother is hanging on by a thread. After she publishes an article about rehabilitating ISIS brides, Nadia is offered a position with the U.N. that she’s wildly unqualified for, heading up a program deradicalizing Islamist women. She jumps at the opportunity. Younis’ ambitious debut traces Nadia’s clumsy attempts to get a grip on her own program. The book is meant to be funny but much of the humor feels strained, and the prose is often clogged with irrelevant details (“my strawberry-infused shampoo,” to take one example) that, at best, slow the momentum and, at worst, are simply boring. The best parts have to do with Nadia’s past: her own break from Islam, and her relationships with her mother and with her ex, Rosy. But the present-tense of the novel, when Nadia heads to Iraq to work with the U.N., is less successful. Younis seems eager to explore the ethical ramifications of Nadia’s work. Nadia asks, “What’s the appropriate punishment for ISIS brides who didn’t commit any violent crimes? Can we detain people just because of their beliefs? Should we try to change their beliefs? Or can we create behavioral change without shifting ideological commitments?” But the book doesn’t really engage these questions adequately. Instead, the questions are simply repeated again and again while Nadia becomes fixated on a particular woman from the refugee camps at the expense of all the others.

An interesting premise is soured by strained humor and failure to engage with the author’s own underlying questions.

Kirkus Reviews