Fundamentally cover art

Fundamentally

Shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Fundamentally

By: Nussaibah Younis
Narrated by: Sarah Slimani
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

 SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

'A NEW NAME TO WATCH OUT FOR' THE TIMES
'THE DEBUT OF THE YEAR' STYLIST
'ELECTRIC' GUARDIAN

A wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging.
'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.

'Funny, gripping and compassionate' DOLLY ALDERTON
'Not only hysterically funny but trenchant and necessary. I loved it' INDIA KNIGHT
'A raunchy, irreverent, touching and daring debut' PARINI SHROFF
'Essential reading' JONATHAN COE
'A breath of fresh air' MARIAN KEYES
'Original, funny and fearless' NINA STIBBE©2025 Prospect Peace Ltd Family Life Genre Fiction Islamic Heritage Political Women's Fiction Funny Heartfelt Middle East Iran

Critic Reviews

Shockingly funny . . . It stunned me, moved me, made me laugh out loud
Impossible not to love
One of the best debut novels I've read in years. Funny, dirty and scathingly truthful
Fundamentally is a rare thing. A genuinely funny book about an attempt to de-radicalise so-called Islamic state brides in Iraq. Incredibly funny, it's a real page turner. A brilliant novel
I defy anyone to read it and not have so many laugh out loud moments. It's funny, it's clever, it makes you think. Heartily recommend
Absolutely devoured this. Funny, smart and a truly compelling plot about rehabilitating ISIS brides
Not only hysterically funny but trenchant and necessary. I loved it
I really, REALLY loved it - the voice, the setting, the plot, all of it. It's original, warm, funny and engaging. A breath of fresh air
Extremely fascinating, extremely jaw-dropping - and extremely funny
Trenchant, funny and fearless
So deserving of all the hype and awards. Brutally brilliant
Younis is a fantastic comic writer: caustic, pitiless, unafraid, with razor-sharp powers of observation. The book is laugh-out-loud funny, and many of the jokes, besides being hilarious, are jaw-dropping in their audacity... Fundamentally is certainly a wild ride, but besides being one of the most entertaining novels I've read in a long while, it will also leave you deeply moved and (incidentally) much better informed than you were before about one of the key political crises of our time. Essential reading
A white-hot critique of international aid, with side-splitting prose
Wise, chilling and hilarious, profound and preposterous. The best book I've read this year on the joy, delusions, missteps and precious idealism of our interventions
Tart, tender, trenchant, and hilarious, Fundamentally is a brilliant novel about faith and friendship that refuses to be any one single thing -- because it is EVERYTHING. Nussaibah Younis is a genius
An absolute riot of a novel. The humour is so sharp you could cut yourself and the action does not stop. Underneath all that though lies some serious topics, deftly handled, and boy, did I get some of my own thinking challenged. Loved it
I loved Fundamentally. I laughed all the way through . . . it's brilliantly done. It's impressive how the book combines elements of farce with such emotional depth and moral complexity. An incredibly accomplished debut.
A wildly witty debut read . . . Nadia's voice is a quicksilver delight
I loved this. Laugh out loud funny, outrageous and thought provoking - a winning combination. The compassion at its heart is huge. Nussaibah's experience shines through the page. Best use of fiction I know, to educate and encourage empathy while entertaining the reader so much they don't realise. Highly recommend
All stars
Most relevant
Capturing what it’s really like to be unsure of everything and never belonging anywhere! Well done!

Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
How much did I love this book!!!
The protagonist is relatable, conversational, authoritative, fallible, funny, and listener feels our bestie is telling us this profoundly plausible story. The characters zing off the page.
(Not since Catch-22 have I read a book that illustrates the idiocy of bureaucracy as well as Fundamentally.)
There is so much more to this story.
Sarah Slimani’s mastery of different accents also makes this a thoroughly entertaining listen. Loved every minute.

A magnificent book, full of humour and compassion - an intrinsic study of human nature with reality at its core.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed this book. The story is intriguing, harrowing and funny. The performance is wonderful - I loved all the accents. Highly recommend

Funny, compelling and great performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great performance and a really enjoyable story revelation. Enjoyed the whole book - the main character was flawed but likeable and believable and relatable, and the supporting characters were a great mix. I also felt like it was quite realistic to this kind of scenario - which the epilogue showed it really was.

Great story, interesting premise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thoroughly enjoyed the nuanced yet highly entertaining narrative. But more impressive is the narrator’s effortless and skilled shifting of accents. Being set in a UN base there’s a large slew of characters from different countries and all of them done justice - even Australian which is always a dealbreaker!

Great story with even better narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.