Gunk
By Saba Sams

**Selected as a 2025 book to look out for by theand Guardian,and Sunday Times,and Irish Times, independent.co.uk,and Cosmopolitan,and Elleand and Service95**'Raw, original and provoking, Saba Sams is Britain's brightest debut novelist'and Vogue'An immersive story about love and the softening borders around what family can be'and Sheena Patel'A joy to read'and The Times'An intimate and tender exploration of love's possibilities'and Sophie Mackintosh'A nuanced exploration of friendship, queerness and love'and Jessica Andrews'I loved this'and Nicola DinanJules 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,and Gunkand is an electrifying debut novel exploring love and desire, safety and destruction, chaos and control - and family in all its forms.