COOP

by Nida Sajid

Lena is a part-time bookseller in a bougie design studio in Oxford Circus. In between minimum-wage work under a politically hostile boss and strained communications with her parents, her days are shaped by a fraught relationship with food, ambiguous experiments in creative writing, and mounting pressure to find a ‘proper’ postgraduate job.

In taut, pocket-sized vignettes, COOP reveals a suffocating lattice of language that makes up a precarious London life. But as each word of her story unravels, Lena discovers interstices between them—to find autonomy and escape.

150 pages, ebook

Published December 18, 2025

Reviews

[Emi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This experimental, beautifully written novelette is full of humour and imagination. Fragmentary yet coherent. You’re confidently carried through the book. Nida is a literary star in the making. More please!

[jq · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5)

[Gracie Hime · Rating 4 out of 5]

usually find these experimental formatting books that mess with texting and social media posts cheesy, but i really liked this one

[Ellie Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

'COOP' is the first 'novelette' I have ever read, and it was absolutely fascinating. I listened to the curated playlist made by the author, and I felt as though it added an extra layer to the experience of reading. Sajid expertly experiments with different forms of writing, and despite the novelette's length, the reader gets to know the interiority of the main character, Lena. Sajid explores the friendships and variety in relationships that Lena has in her life, as well as her experiences as a young person in a capitalistic world. This was original and absolutely fantastic. It was well worth the read.

[Marije de Wit · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute gem. Like the publisher states on their website and socials, this is a book “on work and words, and how they contort the world”, and “[it] slices right to the ugly core of Western literary and academic institutions.”

[Tommie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in a single sitting. Because yes, it's very short and interspersed with the most realistic text messages in literature, but also, because it easily whisks you along the protagonist's journey through the hypocrisy of modern 'creative' London.

[miranda]

nyeeee

[indiajchambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvellous - read in a single breath.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is really excellently crafted. it makes me excited to see what the author does next!

[Amber Duan · Rating 4 out of 5]

100% biased since I know Nida but I loved this read! short and sweet, Nida's writing is full of wit and cutting humor. there are so many quintessentially London details slipped in, both in the setting and character dialogues. incredibly and almost painfully relatable at times. I think it really captures a tiny slice of what it feels like to be a retail worker trying to escape the occasionally soul-crushing weight of capitalistic indifference. the ebook is well worth it if you can't get your hands on a physical copy!