AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Mia Almas lives a double life. She works as a fact-checker for a news publication by day and as a stand-up comedian by night. And then one day, she discovers her Palestinian grandmother's diary, dating back to the 1940s in what was then Jaffa, only to learn that her grandmother, decades before, also kept a secret from her family - a forbidden love.
How Mia and her grandmother disclose their mutual secrets to each other forms the storyline of the new novel by Sara Hamdan called "What Will People Think?" It's a book that reckons with how the pursuit of passion can collide with a family's love and the consequences of being forced to choose. Sara Hamdan joins us now. Welcome.
SARA HAMDAN: Hello. Thank you so much for having me.
CHANG: We're so excited to have you, Sara. Well, I want to just begin by saying it is refreshing to see a book that - it's about Palestinian women, but it's a book that's not primarily about religion or politics or regional conflict. And I was wondering - how intentional was that choice to make this a story more about love and family and comedy?
HAMDAN: It's exactly that. I mean, this is the message that I wanted to put out from day one, and especially for an Arab woman, and especially so - even now more than ever, perhaps - for someone of Palestinian heritage because it's a very misunderstood, politicized identity. And I just wanted to see if it was possible to write a really great story that happened to feature a Palestinian woman who is American and messy and funny and...
CHANG: Totally.
HAMDAN: ...Real and not just reduced to these headlines...
CHANG: Yes.
HAMDAN: ...And just centered around joy because we're not monoliths.
CHANG: It is so fun to see an Arab woman - particularly a Palestinian woman - who is not a stereotype, right? Like, why did you choose to make Mia a New York City comedian specifically?
HAMDAN: I could think of no better way to talk about cultural stereotypes than through comedy because it's a wonderful way to be honest but also to show vulnerability. And comedians, they just stand up on stage, and they bare their souls. And they make people laugh by sharing these little insecurities, and they want to feel seen - literally seen - and understood. And I just thought that this was a beautiful way to tell the story.
CHANG: Well, Mia - she has to keep her comedian life a secret to protect her family, and we won't get into why that is right here. But decades before her, her grandmother, Zeina, also pursued a forbidden passion that placed her family at risk. And it made me wonder - you know, these two women, they're connected at that level. What is it that you wanted to show about the trade-offs of a family's love?
HAMDAN: So I think this is such a beautiful question because this book really does tackle different forms of love. So you have platonic love with Mia's friendship with Katie (ph), her coworker. You have the forbidden crush that Mia has on her boss at work. And then you have the Zeina story - who's her grandmother - and this illicit affair she has with a British soldier. And all of this behind the family expectations of you're supposed to marry the right kind of guy. And I think part of this is - coming of age for both of them is just showing that at any age, you can find the right love that's meant for you. So I think my approach was just to show a very layered look at the different ways that we fall in love and how our own family expectations play into that.
CHANG: What do you hope people will reflect on when they think about love after reading your novel? - 'cause we've talked about so many different kinds of love - the love of friendship, the love in romantic love, a family's love. What is it about love that you want people to take away?
HAMDAN: I think real love builds bridges, and it's just a way of connecting. And this is what life is about - it's just experiencing joy. And I do say that with the full acknowledgment that the last couple of years has been so heartbreaking, not just for me as someone of Palestinian heritage, but just as a mother, as a journalist. On so many levels, what's happening in the Middle East and Palestine is devastating. And literature has a quiet but powerful role here because it reminds us of people's humanity, and this is what I've tried really hard to do in this novel.
CHANG: Sara Hamdan's new book is called "What Will People Think?" Congratulations on your debut novel, and thank you so much for speaking with us.
HAMDAN: Thank you for this honor. It's been wonderful speaking to you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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