FUNDAMENTALLY BY NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS

Our Happy Place Book Club pick for December is the Women's Prize nominated Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis.

'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.

Fearne x

Content Warnings: Islamophobia, Rape, Racism