Fundamentally

Shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction

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Fundamentally

By: Nussaibah Younis

Narrated by: Sarah Slimani

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About this listen

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

Best of 2025

Family Life

Genre Fiction

Islamic Heritage

Political

Women's Fiction

Women's Voices

Funny

Heartfelt

Inspiring

Thought-Provoking

Witty

Tear-jerking

Middle East

Iran

Critic reviews

Shockingly funny . . . It stunned me, moved me, made me laugh out loud

Impossible not to love

Fundamentally is a rare thing. A genuinely funny book about an attempt to de-radicalise so-called Islamic state brides in Iraq. Incredibly funny, it's a real page turner. A brilliant novel

I defy anyone to read it and not have so many laugh out loud moments. It's funny, it's clever, it makes you think. Heartily recommend

Absolutely devoured this. Funny, smart and a truly compelling plot about rehabilitating ISIS brides

Not only hysterically funny but trenchant and necessary. I loved it

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

Extremely fascinating, extremely jaw-dropping - and extremely funny

Trenchant, funny and fearless

So deserving of all the hype and awards. Brutally brilliant

Younis is a fantastic comic writer: caustic, pitiless, unafraid, with razor-sharp powers of observation. The book is laugh-out-loud funny, and many of the jokes, besides being hilarious, are jaw-dropping in their audacity... Fundamentally is certainly a wild ride, but besides being one of the most entertaining novels I've read in a long while, it will also leave you deeply moved and (incidentally) much better informed than you were before about one of the key political crises of our time. Essential reading.

A white-hot critique of international aid, with side-splitting prose

Wise, chilling and hilarious, profound and preposterous. The best book I've read this year on the joy, delusions, missteps and precious idealism of our interventions

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

An absolute riot of a novel. The humour is so sharp you could cut yourself and the action does not stop. Underneath all that though lies some serious topics, deftly handled, and boy, did I get some of my own thinking challenged. Loved it

I loved Fundamentally. I laughed all the way through . . . it's brilliantly done. It's impressive how the book combines elements of farce with such emotional depth and moral complexity. An incredibly accomplished debut.

I loved this. Laugh out loud funny, outrageous and thought provoking - a winning combination. The compassion at its heart is huge. Nussaibah's experience shines through the page. Best use of fiction I know, to educate and encourage empathy while entertaining the reader so much they don't realise. Highly recommend

Impossibly funny whilst darkly probing, Fundamentally is the whole package: a raunchy, irreverent, touching and daring debut with slicing commentary wrapped in bold, biting humour. It slyly and systematically rejects our swallowed concepts of heroes and who is correct, and posits instead the better question: what is right?

Most relevant

What a breath of fresh air! Funny, witty, impeccably observed and beautifully written. Favourite book of the year!