WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY? A NOVEL

When Mihika, 56 and a widow, gets drawn into a relationship with Zuhayr, a

60-year-old divorcee who was her late husbandAditya's friend, it doesn't seem to

her like an event that should cause more than a raised eyebrow or two. Not in the

twenty-first century, and not when their grown-up children are happy that their

parents have found a second chance at happiness.

But inTinigaon-a small town inAssam-it is just not done for a woman of

Mihika's age to have a romantic relationship-that, too, with a man from the

Other Religion: a Muslim.Tinigaon's Old Guard is scandalized as Mihika and

Zuhayr are seen together in restaurants and cinema halls,'flaunting' their affair.

And a nosy neighbour, Ranjana, keeps the moral brigade busy with juicy details of

Zuhayr's late-night comings and goings from Mihika's house.

Mihika decides to ignore the gossipmongering and slander and remain true to her

relationship with Zuhayr, who has filled a void in her life afterAditya's death five

years ago.As long as her four closest friends,Tara,Triveni, Shagufta and Pallavi,

stand by her, she doesn't care if others turn away. But when the gossip turns

into something more sinister that could threaten her daughterVeda's happiness,

Mihika is forced to take a call-should she give up the man she loves for her

daughter's sake, or is there an alternative that could give them both what they

want?

Writing with great sensitivity and gentle humour, Mitra Phukan proves once

again that she is an extraordinary chronicler of the human heart. Rooted, like all

her fiction, in the culture and sensibilities ofAssam, What Will People Say? speaks

to all of us, wherever we are, whoever we are.