Sara Hamdan Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Sara Hamdan is a published author.

She has been a New York Times journalist, a banker with Merrill Lynch, and an editor at Google. She is a graduate of Berkeley and Columbia. She was the winner of a Netflix short story award and after that was the recipient of the First Chapter: Emirates Literature Foundation Seddiqi Writers’ Fellowship in honor of her first novel, What Will People Think?

Sara is Palestinian American. She grew up in Greece and for twenty years and counting has called Dubai her home. She loves to spend time typing away on the computer and when she is not busy doing that, she enjoys spending time at the beach. She is married and shares two kids with her husband.

What Will People Think? is a 2025 novel by Sara Hamdan. If you have been looking for an original new read that you can take on the beach or discuss with your book club or read anywhere you like, this is a fresh voice in fiction that is perfect for readers to explore!

Mia has a hidden comedy career, a forbidden office crush, and a family secret that has been guarded for a long time all take center stage in this coming of age story. Will it be enough to threaten her newly discovered confidence and the chance that she has at fame?

Main character Mia Almas is carrying a secret. During the day, she works a regular job as a media fact checker. This happens to be a job that her conservative Arab grandparents actually approve of. During the night time, she takes herself to the stages of New York City comedy clubs.

Mia often does not go for things right away and holds her back in different ways. This extends unfortunately to the department of romance, but she’s working on it. Mia loves to go on stage because it is something that just absolutely makes her light up on the inside. It also happens to make being something of a wallflower in her everyday life all the more bearable because she gets to embrace this alternate side of her personality onstage.

But then things take a bit of a turn when her stylish new neighbor Phaedra inspires her to take some risks for a change. Mia decides to go after a romance with her boss which is not exactly protocol, her stand up material ends up getting bolder and improving, and she ends up in a spotlight that ends up exposing her secret gig.

Worried and scared that her rebellious act could mean consequences for her composed Palestinian-American family, Mia does everything that she can to put on some damage control. However, all of her efforts to get out of the spotlight end up exposing a family scandal dating back to the forties that could end up changing everything.

Both funny and tender-hearted at times, this debut novel is a daring exploration into what it means to look at and get familiar with the hidden parts of who you are and how sometimes love is the thing that can make one whole again. Grab a copy of this book to find out!