Perfect For The Pride & Prejudice Fan
What Will People Think? by Vedashree Khambete-Sharma is a most delightful re-telling of Pride And Prejudice that will thoroughly entertain the reader.
What Will People Think? is a charming read even if you have no knowledge of Pride And Prejudice. However, for those readers with even just a vague knowledge of Pride And Prejudice, this is a gem of a book.
Pride And Prejudice is my favourite book. I read it for the first time as a teen nearly fifty years ago. I also studied it for A’level. I know Pride And Prejudice inside out. As such I found What Will People Think? an extremely enjoyable version of a very familiar tale.
What Will People Think? is set in Mumbai, India in 1976. The main difference to the original is that there are only four daughters to marry off. “Four daughters! That is a heavy burden indeed.” Once more, the mother is loud and opinionated with the determination to marry her daughters to rich men.
The odious Mr Collins character is still odious and self-promoting. “Any girl would be lucky to marry us.” He cannot believe why anyone would turn him down!
Women are expected to look after their men in the house. “We are being yoked to the kitchen and made to raise children.” Our leading lady is a modern miss, desiring to have a job outside the house.
The leading man is still very proud, looking out for his friend and viewing others as beneath him. But he still has a huge heart. Comparing his first proposal to the original Mr Darcy, still has the reader amused. He loves Ila despite her low class family and dreadful mother!
I found What Will People Think? highly amusing. I loved the inclusion of footnotes to add context and to ridicule, tongue-in-cheek.
What Will People Think? is the perfect read for any Pride And Prejudice fan. All the characters are well drawn and stood up perfectly against the original cast.
I thoroughly enjoyed What Will People Think? and can highly recommend it.
I received a free copy via Rachel’s Random Resources. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
What Will People Think?
Ila has her pride. And she’s about to discover just how much trouble that can be…
It’s 1976 and in the Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai, bastion of the Maharashtrian middle-class, Ila Bendre’s mother is determined to get her four daughters married off as soon as possible.
Ila has no intention of snaring a proposal from some dull specimen of Marathi manhood so she can pretend to care about cricket for the rest of her life. She wants a career and life of her own, and she’ll do whatever it takes to escape married bliss, no matter what the neighbours might say.
But when Ila’s Bollywood-obsessed younger sister, Latika, takes the matter of marriage into her own hands, it looks as if the Bendre family’s reputation in this close-knit community will be ruined once and for all…
As we follow the Bendre sisters from dinners to parties to weddings, from Vile Parle to Pune, will love eventually conquer all in this ingeniously witty and charming tale of pride, prejudice and puran polis?
Purchase Links
https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781805461616
https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/what-will-people-think/vedashree-khambete-sharma/9781805461616
Author Bio –
Vedashree Khambete-Sharma lives in Mumbai and works in advertising – over the course of her 18-year copywriting career, she has won both Indian and international awards for her work, including a Cannes Lion. What Will People Think? is her fourth novel.
Social Media Links –
https://x.com/theotherveda – @theotherveda
https://x.com/CorvusBooks – @CorvusBooks
