A DUA LIPA'S SERVICE95 'MUST READ' FOR 2026

"This is the book I’ve been waiting for. As the lone woman aboard the Clarissa Clyde, Zainab navigates a harsh male world of drillers and roughnecks in the sublime and desolate setting of an isolated drilling platform, where every choice is dire. A rollicking offshore adventure and a stirring emotional saga, At Sea delivers an unforgettable cast of working men who are by turns crass, harsh, desperate, and menacing, but always deeply, powerfully human. The story draws on the robust technical knowledge of someone who’s been there. In their impressive debut novel, Y.M. Abdel-Magied brings us to the fringes of the open sea and deep into the fathomless below, confronting and harnessing the chthonic energies that make our weird world turn. Required reading for the Petroleum Age." —David Huebert, author of Oil People

"Abdel-Magied is a writer who pays attention. Suspenseful, moving, often surprising and even funny, At Sea is an engrossing novel, and its protagonist Zainab is full of heart and charm. Abdel-Magied deftly charts the complex dynamics between characters in a world where games of power and ego can have devastating and perilous consequences." —Fatima Mirza, bestselling author of A Place for Us

"A story of gender and power politics, the cost of capitalism and unhealed wounds, this is a masterclass in drawing a reader into worlds unknown and making it consume their every waking thought." —Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us

"Written with the urgency of a thriller and the distress signal of an allegory, At Sea is a smart, razor-sharp takedown of the machismo of big oil and what it is to be a woman operating in such a hostile industry. Abdel-Magied tells this compelling story with a fresh, authoritative voice."
—Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives

"Fast-paced, gripping and gloriously entertaining. At Sea exposes the social dynamics we all recognize—power, gender, ambition." —Tilly Lawless, author of Nothing but My Body and Thora

"Zesty, intense and thrilling—a wonderful achievement." —Leila Aboulela, author of River Spirit

"With a kick-ass heroine of an engineer, and moving between Sudan and Scotland, Australia and a rig on the verge of a blowout, At Sea captures the high stakes drama and the claustrophobia of life off-shore in the service of Big Oil." —Gavin Francis, author of Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins

"A vivid, gripping and claustrophobic read. My heart was in my mouth throughout. Truly a book to transport you. I absolutely loved it." —Louie Stowell

"Startling, thrilling, subtly shocking: a superbly crafted piece of volcanic tension." —Musa Okwonga, author of In the End, It Was All About Love

"Propulsive and engrossing and deeply fascinating, Abdel-Magied's At Sea is a feat of vivid world-building, of characters sketched with such empathy and with a poet’s economy of language. My heartt was in my throat the entire time. This story will haunt me forever." —Safia Elhillo

"An utterly brilliant, searing, incisive novel that holds a mirror up to some of the darkest tendencies of human nature and the systems we build, and what happens when those systemic and personal failures intersect. It is a terrific powerful novel about race, gender, capitalism and the importance of bearing witness. I absolutely loved it and will be telling everyone I know to read it. As well as being incredibly powerful and poignant, it is also beautifully written, moving, perfectly rendered and a staggeringly good piece of literary art. I’ll read absolutely anything Abdel-Magied writes. This book truly is a triumph." —Lucia Osborne-Crowley, award-winning journalist and author of The Lasting Harm

"Poignant and complex. At Sea is a thrilling mystery, neatly rendered and culminating in an ending that had me holding my breath. As fast-paced as it is heartfelt, Abdel-Magied's defiant heroine takes us on a journey that will defy reader expectations." —Ayisha Malik, author of Sofia Khan is Not Obliged

"Drawing on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil-spill disaster and her own experiences as a drilling engineer from Sudan, like her protagonist, Abdel-Magied offers fascinating technical details, intriguing personalities, and dramatic showdowns within the precarious confines of an oil rig beset by the ever-changing sea and winds. The result is an involving, suspenseful, psychologically intricate and thought-provoking tale of humankind’s hubris and nature’s might.” —Booklist

“This century hasn’t yet produced its Elizabeth Gaskell or Arthur Hailey. Perhaps we have now found such a writer in the form of Y.M. Abdel-Magied.” —Times Literary Supplement

“Much has changed when it comes to gender equality in the workplace, but one place where that’s not the case is on an oil rig. Abdel-Magied's literary novel reads like a thriller, as protagonist Zainab heads out to the Clarissa Clyde to oversee operations and realizes there’s something very wrong. Tense and tightly written, this brilliantly counted down to disaster and made me feel like I was out in the bleak darkness of the sea waiting for something to happen.” —Red

“Relatable, engaging and incredibly thrilling. . . . At Sea is beautifully written—often poetic in its language—and addictive in its tension and pacing, it's a book that will haunt you long after you put it down.” —The New Arab

"Addictive in its tension and pacing—a great thriller." —Stylist