**Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize** **Selected as a Book of the Summer 2025 by the
Guardian The Times Sunday Times independent.co.uk Vogue and Marie Claire ** **Selected
as a 2025 book to look out for by the Guardian Sunday Times Irish Times independent.co.uk
Cosmopolitan Elle and Service95 ** 'Raw original and provoking Saba Sams is Britain's
brightest debut novelist ' Vogue 'An immersive story about love and the softening borders
around what family can be' Sheena Patel 'A joy to read' The Times 'An intimate and tender
exploration of love's possibilities ' Sophie Mackintosh 'Raw powerful and beautiful' Observer
'A nuanced exploration of friendship queerness and love' Jessica Andrews 'I loved this'
Nicola Dinan Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years but she still
works alongside him at Gunk the grotty student nightclub he owns in central Brighton. She
spends her nights serving shots and watching from behind the bar as Leon flirts with students
on the dancefloor. But then Leon hires nineteen-year-old Nim to work the bar - and her arrival
jolts Jules awake for the first time in years. When Nim discovers she's pregnant Jules
agrees to help. As the months pass and the relationship between the two women grows
increasingly intimate and perplexing it emerges that Nim has her own unexpected gifts to give.
Now alone in her small flat Jules is holding a baby just twenty-four hours old who still
smells of Nim. But no one knows where Nim is or if she's coming back. What could the future -
for Jules Nim and this unnamed baby - possibly look like? Raw exhilarating tender and
wise Gunk is an electrifying debut novel exploring love and desire safety and destruction
chaos and control - and family in all its forms.
