Saba Sams

**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.

An electrifying first novel from one of Britain's most celebrated young writers, the story of two women circling one another--working side-by-side, sleeping with the same man, inching toward friendship--until an unplanned pregnancy reveals the true nature of their connection. Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works with 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. In the early hours of the morning, she trudges home to sleep alone. But then Leon hires nineteen-year-old Nim to work the bar with Jules--Nim, with her shaved head and steady pour, her disarming sweetness and sudden distance--and Jules finds herself jolted awake. 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, surprising, tender and wise, Gunk is an exhilarating debut novel exploring love and desire, safety and destruction, chaos and control-- and family in all its forms.

**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 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, Gunk is an electrifying debut novel exploring love and desire, safety and destruction, chaos and control – and family in all its forms.

From the award-winning author of the smash hit Send Nudes: an electrifying debut exploring love and desire, chaos and control - and family in all its forms

En av de senaste årens mest uppmärksammade brittiska debuter»Sams är värd alla lovord hon fått i brittisk press. Jag blir golvad.« Ann Heberlein, SvD»Stark debutbok från Storbritannien som det pratats för lite om i Sverige.« Erik Högström, Expressen»Träffsäkra coming of age-noveller.« Esther Arndtzén, GP I tio noveller rör sig unga kvinnor från klubbar efter stängningstid till oplanerade graviditeter, från pubtoaletter till yogaklasser. De vaknar upp i unkna festivaltält, skickar nudes till en främling i en app och dricker snakebite - lika delar ljus lager och cider, »billigaste du har«. I Saba Sams hyllade novellsamling kartläggs uppväxtens förrädiska terräng med en genomlysning av den period som kan samlas under begreppet ung kvinna. Med skärpa, värme och originalitet skildrar Sams hur det är att växa upp för snabbt och ändå inte snabbt nog, att äga och att i nästa stund låta sig ägas, att böja sig för press och samtidigt själv vara med och skapa den pressen. I översättning av Maria Nääs. SABA SAMS [f. 1996] är en engelsk författare bosatt i London. För sin debutbok Skicka nudes [Send Nudes, 2022] tilldelades hon Edge Hill-priset och hennes novell »Blue 4eva« vann BBC:s novellpris 2022. Året därefter kom hon med på Grantas prestigefyllda lista med Storbritanniens bästa unga författare. »De tio novellerna skapar sammanhängande serieremsor om transformationer. Ögonblicksbilder där något övergår från att vara enkelt till svårt, från fult till fint eller tvärtom. Och om det hopplösa görandet i att vara tjej.« Minna Höggren, Aftonbladet »Det har skrivits berättelser om unga kvinnor i existentiella kriser förut, men Sams gör det mycket egensinnigt, med skev humor och ömhet.« Femina»En vacker novellsamling om 10 olika unga kvinnors öden. Varm, hjärtskärande och skarp.« Read With Roos

SELECTED FOR STYLIST'S BOOKS YOU CAN'T MISS IN 2022 - 'A MUST READ ''An exhilarating debut' GUARDIAN 'A fresh new voice in fiction, wry and sharp and raw' EMMA CLINE 'I still remember where I was when I first encountered a Saba Sams story' NICOLE FLATTERY 'I fell for this stunning collection with a rare, consuming passion' MEGAN NOLAN____________________________________________________________ In ten dazzling stories, Saba Sams dives into the world of girlhood and immerses us in its contradictions and complexities: growing up too quickly, yet not quickly enough; taking possession of what one can, while being taken possession of; succumbing to societal pressure but also orchestrating that pressure. These young women are feral yet attentive, fierce yet vulnerable, exploited yet exploitative. Threading between clubs at closing time, pub toilets, drenched music festivals and beach holidays, these unforgettable short stories deftly chart the treacherous terrain of growing up - of intense friendships, of ambivalent mothers, of uneasily blended families, and of learning to truly live in your own body. With striking wit, originality and tenderness, Send Nudes celebrates the small victories in a world that tries to claim each young woman as its own. _____________________________________________________________________ 'A roiling, raw, gut-punch of a debut collection, best read in one sitting ... I sat motionless for about half an hour after reading them; I can't wait to see what she writes next' PANDORA SYKES 'A seriously impressive debut. Saba Sams digs into the chaos, euphoria and menace of sexual attraction, friendship and family with bravery and wit' CHRIS POWER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE 2022 BY STYLIST, VOGUE, GLAMOUR, COSMOPOLITAN, EVENING STANDARD, IRISH INDEPENDENT, AnOTHER, FOYLES, BOOKSHOP. ORG

**By the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award 2022** SELECTED FOR STYLIST’S BOOKS YOU CAN’T MISS IN 2022 - ’A MUST READ’ ’Sensual, witty, audacious, belligerent, dangerous brilliance’ GUARDIAN ’A fresh new voice in fiction, wry and sharp and raw’ EMMA CLINE ’I still remember where I was when I first encountered a Saba Sams story’ NICOLE FLATTERY ’I fell for this stunning collection with a rare, consuming passion’ MEGAN NOLAN ____________________________________________________________ In ten dazzling stories, Saba Sams dives into the world of girlhood and immerses us in its contradictions and complexities: growing up too quickly, yet not quickly enough; taking possession of what one can, while being taken possession of; succumbing to societal pressure but also orchestrating that pressure. These young women are feral yet attentive, fierce yet vulnerable, exploited yet exploitative. Threading between clubs at closing time, pub toilets, drenched music festivals and beach holidays, these unforgettable short stories deftly chart the treacherous terrain of growing up - of intense friendships, of ambivalent mothers, of uneasily blended families, and of learning to truly live in your own body. With striking wit, originality and tenderness, Send Nudes celebrates the small victories in a world that tries to claim each young woman as its own. _____________________________________________________________________ ’A roiling, raw, gut-punch of a debut collection, best read in one sitting ... I sat motionless for about half an hour after reading them; I can’t wait to see what she writes next’ PANDORA SYKES ’A seriously impressive debut. Saba Sams digs into the chaos, euphoria and menace of sexual attraction, friendship and family with bravery and wit’ CHRIS POWER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE 2022 BY STYLIST, VOGUE, GLAMOUR, COSMOPOLITAN, EVENING STANDARD, IRISH INDEPENDENT, AnOTHER, FOYLES, BOOKSHOP. ORG