We are thrilled to announce that Nussaibah Younis is coming to Juno Books to talk about her hilarious, thoughtful debut novel, Fundamentally.
Fundamentally is about a heartbroken academic Nadia, who winds up in Iraq leading a chaotic UN scheme to deradicalize ISIS brides, after she’s dumped by her lover Rosie. There she meets Sara, a young ISIS bride from East London, and they bond immediately, because in Nadia’s words, ‘There’s nothing scary about a hijabi rude girl from Mile End.’
But when Sara confesses a secret, Nadia is forced to make a difficult choice.
Fundamentally is incredibly funny. Laugh out loud funny. It’s also incredibly thoughtful, and smart. Nussaibah upends and explores one of the most controversial issues of our time with heart, complexity and humour.
‘By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex?’
When Nadia is disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, 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.
But then Nadia meets Sara, a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen, and she is struck by how similar their stories are. Both from a Muslim background, both feisty and opinionated, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines, Sara and Nadia immediately connect and a powerful friendship forms. When Sara confesses a secret, Nadia is forced to make a difficult choice.
A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion, radicalism, and the decisions we make in pursuit of connection and belonging, Fundamentally upends and explores a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour - delivered by one of the most fearless and talented new voices in contemporary fiction.
Dr Nussaibah Younis is a peacebuilding practitioner and a globally recognised expert on contemporary Iraq. For several years, Nussaibah advised the Iraqi government on proposed programs to de-radicalise women affiliated with ISIS. She has a PhD in International Affairs from the University of Durham, 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 Task Force on the Future of Iraq and offered strategic advice to US government agencies on Iraq policy. She was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, and has
published Op-Eds in The Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, and the New York Times.
Nussaibah will be in conversation with Noreen Nasim, who is a bestselling author, TEDx Speaker, and Storytelling Coach with over 15 years of experience as a Lecturer in Digital Industries. Her literary journey began with Expelled from Uganda, a powerful memoir chronicling her father’s experience during the 1972 Ugandan Asian expulsion, highlighting the lost stories of a displaced community. Today, alongside her writing, she delivers inspiring talks and workshops, helping others to share their stories with confidence.
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