Author: Younis, Nussaibah Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)Published on 25 February 2025 by Orion Publishing Co (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) in the United Kingdom.Hardback | 336 pages162 x 241 x 32 | 534g By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex? Nadia is an academic whos 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.
