The Radio 2 Book Club 'Fundamentally' by Nussaibah Younis
Sara welcomes debut author Nussaibah Younis to the Book Club to discuss her debut novel, 'Fundamentally'.
They discuss Nussaibah's previous life (advising top people in Washington DC on contemporary Iraq), why she felt it was important to write this book, and how she balanced humour with very serious issues.
She also gives us a reading recommendation!
Book Blurb here:
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.