In India there was the Tehelka issue with Tarun Tejpal on the block accused by a girl his daughter's age and despite the support of his wife and the fact that the law ultimately acquitted Tejpal, his reputation was tarnished and, again as many activist women say, rightly so.

#MeToo is a movement with its grey areas obfuscated by consent and the lack of it. Many of the women chose to speak out against their harassers years later which raised more protests on the patriarchy front.

Shuma Raha's The Sea Has the Answers is less a novel about the #MeToo movement than about what happens in its aftermath. Set between Kolkata and a small seaside town, it follows Urmimala Das, whose easy life collapses when her husband is publicly accused by several former colleagues of sexual harassment and assault. Faced with the sudden unravelling of her marriage and the fact that the man she loved turns out to be someone else altogether, Urmimala retreats to her bungalow by the sea in search of distance, healing and perhaps a new understanding of herself.

Raha handles her controversial though perhaps no longer so topical subject with restraint. Without turning the novel into the expected debate on guilt and innocence, she explores the emotional consequences of public disgrace on those left behind. Urmimala is not presented as a victim in the conventional sense, nor is she simply the wife of an accused man. Instead, she becomes a woman forced to confront uncomfortable truths about marriage, desire and identity.

One might wonder why Raha as an ex-journalist, chose advertising as her #MeToo profession of choice since the world of mad men created less of a stir than journalism or the film industry did – with Epstein causing the most ruckus with his trafficking which went beyond mere #MeToo - but there is nothing to be faulted in her choice since corporate spheres have their varied power struggles on male and female fronts.

The sea of the title acts as more than a backdrop, by turns calm, unpredictable and quietly restorative. It reflects Urmimala's emotional landscape, offering both solitude and the possibility of renewal. As she slowly comes to terms with her shattered domestic life, she also rediscovers a part of herself that had long remained dormant. Her affair with a younger man is treated as an exploration of emotional and physical awakening, a means perhaps of getting back at her husband without admitting it to herself.

By refusing to provide easy answers, Raha recognises that the #MeToo movement created ripple effects extending far beyond those directly involved. Questions of power, consent, loyalty and accountability are examined, while acknowledging that every revelation leaves multiple lives in turmoil. The novel resists the temptation to reduce its characters to heroes or villains, allowing them instead to remain recognisably human since sexual transgressions of a certain sort defy the definitions of black and white.

Raha's descriptions of Kolkata's high society and the slower rhythms of the seaside town create a strong sense of place. The prose is measured, allowing emotional tension to emerge naturally. A great deal of the story unfolds through reflection rather than action and readers expecting a plot-driven narrative may find the middle sections lingering on Urmimala's inner conflicts for far too long. Urmimala's journey is one of self-discovery, marked by doubt, loneliness and unexpected desire. Raha suggests that healing is rarely linear and that the search for truth often begins only after certainties have collapsed.

But one should point out that many of the women whose husbands were caught in the #MeToo net chose to stay and support their husbands whatever be the reason – whether for economic security or otherwise.

The Sea Has the Answers uses a social issue to explore issues about marriage, trust, sexuality and selfhood, choosing to dwell in emotional ambiguity. Readers looking for dramatic twists may find it understated, but those who appreciate nuanced psychological fiction will find it thoughtful, a narrative centring on the difficult task of beginning again, in some senses like Belle Burden's Strangers, a Memoir of Marriage.