Gunk - by Saba Sams (Hardcover)

About the Book

"An electrifying first novel from one of Britian'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"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE - An electrifying first novel from "a fresh new voice in fiction" (Emma Cline, New York Times bestselling author of The Guest), 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 eighteen-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.

Review Quotes

"Propulsive....Quietly radical....Sams is alive at her typewriter...consistently dispens[ing] little gobs of feeling....The book is heartbreaking (and coolly frightening) in ways one does not see coming."
--Dwight Garner, The New York Times

"A funky, surreptitiously fun debut....An exploration of the grottier side of British nightlife, the surrogate families formed after hours, and the allure of mind-altering substances and experiences, whether chemical or biological."
--Vogue

"A fast-paced, compact novel that dives deep into questions of motherhood. Sams has offered a concise story with a hyper focus....A laser-focused narrative warning us that parenthood--motherhood, particularly--has a cost."
--Ian Macallen, Chicago Review of Books

"Gunk is as much a book about labor and the transactional nature of relationships under capitalism as it is a subtle exploration of what we ask from the people we love in the messiness (gunkiness) of life. Its nuance challenges the reader to look past what we want for the characters and to witness what is there. Gunk has a tender realism at the heart of it, which wins the reader with small moments of awe."
--Hannah Burns, Brooklyn Rail

"A quick and introspective read....A beautifully weird and engrossing tale of alternative family and love."
--Samia Saliba, Mizna

"In Sams's fictional worlds, the edges between female friendship and desire are as smudged as lipstick after a long night partying....Sams writes in the disarming voice of a bored teenager with a gift for one-liners and sudden moments of poetry."
--The Guardian (UK)

"Young motherhood reimagined by an exciting new literary voice....A warm, often funny novel about an unconventional partnership....A joy to read."
--The Times (UK)

"Masterful, very original and moving....Tackles these big, amorphous things with such easy elegance....A very visceral book: the stickiness of the club the raw animality of birth, the milky yearnings of the baby....I love the way [Sams] describes things."
--Pandora Sykes, author of How Do We Know We're Doing it Right

"A literary wunderkind....Acutely observed and tight in focus."
--Harpers Bazaar (UK)

"Bold, cheeky and visceral....A very modern novel by a very exciting debut novelist."
--Vogue (UK)

"Sams's prose is fresh as new paint....Raw, powerful and beautiful in the plain-spokenness of a life cracking open to enfold a new being."
--The Observer (UK)

"A hotly anticipated debut....The perfect depiction of nights out, complete with sours shots and sticky floors."
--The Independent (UK)

"This tender fictional debut....Looks at blended families and nontraditional life choices. Prepare for one of the best birth scenes written on the page along with an original and ageless relationship between two women....This will make you think differently about parenting, friendships and the goals we set in life."
--Elle (UK)

"Saba Sams depicts a love growing between two women that is romantic, at times explosive, and evades a label--an exploration of a chosen family that sits in uncertainty."
--The Times Literary Supplement (UK)

"An elusive, idiosyncratic book that I would not want to have been written any differently."
--Naoise Dolan, The Irish Times

"Imbued with an affecting authenticity of feeling, this is an involving exploration of life, love and family forged beyond labels by one of Gen Z's sharpest observers."
--The Daily Mail (UK)

"Sams' poignant tale parks issues of identity as essentially unknowable and simply glories in the mess of life."
--Financial Times (UK)

"Gunk bristles with confidence....Sams' other superpower, other than reaching into a treasure trove of fizzy, lyrical metaphors, is her worldbuilding: the reader can all but see and smell the dank walls of Gunk, and taste the sea air of the Brighton seafront....Gunk offers a refreshing revision on conventional romance, family and friendship....Gunk sees Sams more than live up to the considerable hype around her."
--The Irish Independent

"A vivid, reflective exploration of parenthood, personhood, and desire....Sams shines in the details, never shying away from the unsavory, gunky side of life."
--Kirkus

"This psychologically acute debut novel breezes by in short chapters that carry heft."
--Booklist

About the Author

SABA SAMS has an MA in creative writing from Birkbeck, University of London. Her writing has appeared in Granta, The Stinging Fly, and The White Review. She was selected for Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023 and The Sunday Times' Young Power List in 2025. She was raised in Brighton and now lives in London. Gunk is her first novel.