'Fundamentally' by Nussaibah Younis

 

From the BLURB: 

A laugh-out-loud, unforgettable novel about ISIS brides, by debut author 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. 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.

***

'Fundamentally' is the 2025 debut novel by British author Nussaibah Younis, and it has been Shortlisted for the Women's Prize in the UK (which is how I heard about it.)

It's the story of Nadia; a young academic who travels to Iraq mostly to get over a painful break-up, but ends up desperate to help a young British Asian girl who joined IS(IS) at 15, and whom Nadia meets in her UN deradicalisation programme. Seemingly heavy subject-matters aside; this is a hilarious contemporary fiction novel, and the only way I can describe it is; like 2016 Tina Fey movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ... and in my mind, Younis is 1000% successor to the likes of Helen Fielding; Nadia is who Bridget Jones could conceivably have been, had those books been written *today* and Bridget's career path had been radicalisation academia instead of book-publishing, had she then swerved to United Nations work instead of News television to exact revenge on her cheating-ex.

'Fundamentally' is quintessentially Bridget Jones comedic British, and also utterly refreshing - sharp humour peppers the novel for laugh-out-loud moments that can lead to legitimate spit-takes if reading with a beverage close by. For instance;

'Perhaps we could start with an ice-breaker?' I said, thinking through exercises I'd used on my students. 'How about two truths and a lie? You say two truths and one falsehood, and the others guess which is which.'
The Iraqis looked confused and my team covered their faces with their hands. The minister glanced up from her phone.
'Palestine, Palestine, Israel,' she said.

Younis also clearly knows her stuff ... and has put her background to brilliant use in the novel. Her biography reads;

'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.'

Clearly she is drawing on all of that considerable expertise here, and pillaging it for thought-provoking humour (not even the UN comes out unscathed, not that anyone should be surprised by that. At their worst, they've been ineffectual in the current genocide being committed by Israel. Previously though, they have tried to cover-up sex slavery being perpetrated by Balkan peacekeepers ... they're lucky that Younis merely aims to show their ineffectual red-tape, hierarchical obsessions, rewarding of sycophancy and nepotism, in something closer to homage of Josep Heller's 'Catch-22' political satire.)

Younis being British, was also clearly inspired by the true-story of Shamima Begum - one of the Bethnal Green trio of young British schoolgirls who ran away from home, and joined ISIS (later revealed to have been deliberately radicalised online by a Canadian spy, who smuggled the girls into Syria.)

I was initially unsure how to feel about a book so clearly influenced by Begum's story, when she's still stateless and being forced into political limbo instead of any country taking responsibility for her deliberate radicalisation, and need for care and rehabilitation now (but I listened to a very thought-provoking and thorough BBC podcast about her; I'm Not a Monster . Highly recommend).

But I actually think a real strength of 'Fundamentally' is the use of humour to disarm and get under readers' skin, to really reason through and have rational discussions about these very big topics that are essentially about theology;

What is moderation in religion, anyway, other than a tolerance for dissonance? God's instructions, issued over a thousand years ago, will always be extreme by contemporary standards. We protect religious freedom, but expect people to cherry-pick which religious teachings they observe. Luckily, the vast majority of believers abide by the easy, sensible rulings, and sidestep the rest. It's quite a hard skill to teach. Ignore that part, you have to say, I know God's word is infallible, but obviously that bit is mental.

I think this is one of the funniest and cleverest books I've read in a while. I am gobsmacked that it's Younis' debut, and I cannot wait to read what she writes next! I think it is absolutely deserving of the Women's Prize, and I hope that in being shortlisted she is - at least - being given a chance to discuss Shamima Begum's plight ... clearly, this is an author that can talk with authority on the repercussions of war, radicalisation, the vulnerability of young people online as Western societies become more racist and bigoted. I mean, I'd definitely pitch this more as 'a British-Iraqi Bridget Jones chuckle-fest,' first and foremost; and let the rest of it be a sweet, sweet surprise!

5/5