Gunk: By the multi-award-winning author of SEND NUDES
May 2025 · Bloomsbury Publishing
Ebook
240
Pages
infoThis book will become available on May 8, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
**Selected as a 2025 book to look out for by the Guardian, Sunday Times, Irish Times, independent.co.uk, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Service95**
'An immersive story about love and the softening borders around what family can be' Sheena Patel
'An intimate and tender exploration of love's possibilities' Sophie Mackintosh
'A nuanced exploration of friendship, queerness and love' Jessica Andrews
'I loved this' Nicola Dinan
'A beautifully constructed and perfectly written novel' Jessica Stanley
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
_____________________________
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. In the early hours of the morning, she paces home to sleep.
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, 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.
Praise for Saba Sams
'Sams is the real deal' LUCY KIRKWOOD, GUARDIAN
'A bold new talent' STYLIST
'I can't wait to see what she writes next' PANDORA SYKES
'An immersive story about love and the softening borders around what family can be' Sheena Patel
'An intimate and tender exploration of love's possibilities' Sophie Mackintosh
'A nuanced exploration of friendship, queerness and love' Jessica Andrews
'I loved this' Nicola Dinan
'A beautifully constructed and perfectly written novel' Jessica Stanley
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
_____________________________
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. In the early hours of the morning, she paces home to sleep.
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, 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.
Praise for Saba Sams
'Sams is the real deal' LUCY KIRKWOOD, GUARDIAN
'A bold new talent' STYLIST
'I can't wait to see what she writes next' PANDORA SYKES
About the author
Saba Sams was raised in Brighton and now lives in London. She was selected for Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023. Her short story collection Send Nudes was awarded the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2022 and was shortlisted for the University of Swansea International Dylan Thomas Prize 2023. The story 'Blue 4eva' from the collection was awarded the BBC National Short Story Award. She lives in East London.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
