Dr. Nadia Amin is the protagonist in Nussaibah Younis’s satirical political novel Fundamentally. A young British academic with a degree in criminology from a Muslim family, Nadia is openly queer right from the beginning of the novel, and her bisexuality plays a critical part in the plot.
While a university student, Nadia stopped believing in God, causing her mother to push her out of the house and estranging the two for years. In response, Nadia emotionally leans on her girlfriend, Rosy — a funny, confident party girl. However, the relationship soon becomes unhealthy and codependent.
After they graduate and Nadia begins work as a lecturer, Rosy pressures her to give up a prestigious UN job proposal that would relocate her to the Middle East. Though Nadia agrees, Rosy suddenly leaves her to build a “normal”, “traditional” relationship with a man. Heartbroken and no longer tied to London, Nadia accepts the UN position and moves to Iraq to lead a new agency, UNDO, whose mission is to deradicalise ISIS brides.
In her new post, Nadia meets Tom, a conservative former soldier. The two begin dating, but Nadia realises that there isn’t a real connection and that she’s using Tom to distract herself from her breakup with Rosy.
Meanwhile, in the ISIS camp, Nadia becomes friends with a British ISIS widow named Sara and grows extremely attached to her. The two have many things in common: they both like dirty jokes, X-Men comics, dairy milk chocolate, and most importantly, they come from similar families and both have Mummy Issues.
The main plot of the novel revolves around Nadia’s attempts to save Sara from the camp. Their friendship stays platonic, however, it seems at times as though it could have grown into something more. After some poor decisions, a fight with Sara, and a one-night stand with an American man she met at a local bar, Nadia begins dating Christina, who works in the refugee camp. Faced with a chance for a serious relationship, Nadia realises she’s not ready. Finally, recognising her abandonment issues, Nadia decides to stay single while she focuses on herself, breaking her negative relationship cycle and demonstrating growth as a character and as a person.
As for bi representation, Nadia’s character may resonate with bi people who belong to minority, immigrant, or refugee communities. Nadia’s struggle with family acceptance also reflects the experiences of many LGBT people. At the same time, the fact that Fundamentally is not an LGBT romance but a funny political novel with a bi character makes Nadia interesting for people outside the LGBT community. The book portrays bisexuality as completely ordinary and normal — Nadia is an openly bi character carrying out an important political mission in a conservative Muslim country, but the plot does not revolve around her sexual orientation.