What Will People Think?
A Novel
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4.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A Jimmy Fallon's Book Club Finalist for 2025
Mia’s secret comedy career, forbidden office crush, and a long-guarded family secret take center stage, threatening her newfound confidence and her one shot at fame in this hilarious, heartfelt coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Curtis Sittenfeld and Etaf Rum.
Mia Almas has a secret. By day, she works at a respectable job as a media fact checker—a position her conservative, Arab grandparents approve of—and, by night, she takes to the stages of New York City comedy clubs. She holds herself back in a lot of ways, especially in the romance department, but being on stage lights her up and makes being a wallflower the rest of the time more bearable. That is, until Phaedra, her stylish and bold new neighbor, inspires Mia to take a few risks.
As Mia pursues a forbidden romance with her boss, her standup gets better and bolder, leading to a surprise spotlight that exposes her secret gig. Horrified and worried that her rebellious act could mean big consequences for her reserved Palestinian-American family, Mia frantically dives into damage control. But all of her efforts to pull back from the spotlight expose a family scandal from the 1940s that could change everything…
Equal parts funny and tender, What Will People Think? is a heart-bursting exploration of what it means to discover and embrace the hidden parts of yourself, and how love in all forms can make you whole.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Hamdan debuts with a heartfelt coming-of-age novel about a mid-20s New Yorker who inadvertently exposes her Palestinian American family's secrets while moonlighting as a stand-up comic. It's 2011 and Mia Almas, a fact-checker for a popular romance column, hopes to one day find a love of her own, even if it means doggedly scrolling her boss's Facebook page, just in case he breaks up with his girlfriend. She still lives with her conservative immigrant grandparents, who raised her after the death of her single father when she was 15. Mia knows her grandparents would never approve of her making advances on a man, nor of her sets at comedy clubs across the city, which become increasingly free-spirited and raunchy after she meets a stylish and confident Arab American neighbor. A crisis ensues after Mia strikes back at an Islamophobic heckler and her outburst is covered in the media, forcing her to reexamine her priorities. Hamdan balances levity with poignancy through a series of revelations, such as the reason behind Mia's father's death on 9/11, why her grandparents left Palestine, and why they remain so cautious. This will linger in readers' minds.
