This novel has always been one of my favourites so far. It was one of the earliest Malay novels that I read, back when I was still in the university days. Mama jarang baca Malay novels, but when I do, I only read the best ones.

The story line is quite cliche. Dua orang terpaksa berkahwin atas sebab-sebab tertentu. Really cliche. But, what I love about this novel, is how they develop their loves between each others. Tengku Syahran and Zahlia, both of them have their own ego. Masing-masing tidak mahu mengalah. And they always have love-hate relationship. Apabila salah seorang baik, the other party akan bersikap acuh tidak acuh. So, it’s really hard to see them being nice towards each other, kecuali di hadapan family members. And hendak ditambahkan lagi dengan character jahat seperti Linda and Faizal. Seriously jahat.

I’ve cried in certain parts of the novel. Especially when they decided to part from each other for a while. The moment when they started to realize that they love each other, the moment when they can finally realize that they need each other to be complete as one, as usual, pasti akan ada manusia yang tersangat dengki dengan kebahagiaan mereka. So, in the end, they need to part from each other.

The moment when Zahlia bertemu kembali dengan Tengku Syahran, the best moment ever. Muka tergamam, muka terkejut, all the cries, I can really feel it, even though through the words from a novel. This is what I love about this novel. Damya Hanna as author, memang bagus dalam mengarang ayat-ayat yang pada Mama, susah hendak nampak pada authors pada zaman sekarang. She knows how to create beautiful words, put those words into beautiful sentences yang boleh membawa you all ke dunia novel tersebut. You can really feel it.

I’ve owned a copy of this book, and memang novel ini hampir lunyai pun, sebab I am not sure berapa banyak kali Mama ulang baca novel ini. From time-to-time, I will go back to this novel, untuk melepaskan kerinduan terhadap Tengku Syahran and Zahlia.

P/S: Don’t ever watch the drama adaptation of this novel. It was horrible. I’ve cried so much and sakit hati sangat-sangat apabila my favourite novel, my favourite story apabila diadaptasi dengan sangat teruk sekali. I wish they can do a remake of the adaptation, one day. Better actors and actresses, better director, better story line yang follow closely to the novel.