Finding Home, Finding Self: Why I Love Namrata Patel’s Novels
Some authors sneak up on you. You read one book, enjoy it, then you read another and start noticing the patterns—the themes, the rhythms, the way their stories linger in your head. That’s exactly how I feel about Namrata Patel.
With three books—The Candid Life of Meena Dave, Scent of a Garden and The Curious Secrets of Yesterday—Patel has created something special. Her work is immersive, emotional and layered with the kind of storytelling that keeps unfolding long after you’ve turned the last page. And at the heart of all her novels is a question I find fascinating:
How do we define home, identity and belonging—especially when we’re caught between cultures?
The Gujarati American Experience: Many Stories, Not Just One
One of the things I love most about Patel’s work is that she doesn’t offer a singular ‘South Asian American’ story. Instead, she explores how identity shifts across generations. What does it mean to be part of the Gujarati diaspora in the US? What does it mean to grow up with one foot in a deeply rooted culture and the other in a country that often pulls you in the opposite direction?
Each of her protagonists has a different answer:
• In The Candid Life of Meena Dave, Meena doesn’t even know she’s South Asian. She was raised outside the culture and stumbles into it unexpectedly. Her journey is about rediscovering a heritage and place in the world she never knew she had.
• Scent of a Garden is the opposite. The protagonist actively pushes against her roots, seeing them as restrictive, something that’s kept her from becoming the person she wants to be.
• The Curious Secrets of Yesterday introduces a character who feels bound by love and obligation, struggling with the weight of family expectations and unsure how to break free.
What’s brilliant is that none of these perspectives are right or wrong. They just are. Patel doesn’t flatten the diaspora experience into a single narrative—she expands it, showing that identity is complicated, fluid and deeply personal.
Family, Freedom and the Tension in Between
Patel also dives deep into one of the biggest questions for anyone who straddles cultures: How do you balance family expectations with your own path?
South Asian culture, in particular, is deeply community- and family-oriented. Meanwhile, American culture celebrates independence, self-reliance, forging your own way. Her characters are constantly caught in that space between the two—what is duty and what is freedom?
This is one of the things that makes her protagonists so compelling. They’re not just figuring out their careers or their relationships; they’re also trying to untangle what it means to be loyal to their family while being loyal to themselves.
And let’s be real—sometimes the progagonists are frustrating. We, as readers, can see their struggles clearly, but they can’t. They’re stuck in old patterns, hesitating when we just want them to step forward. But isn’t that exactly how it feels when we’re navigating our own lives? We’re often the last to see what’s holding us back.
In Megan C. McCarthy-Biank’s Cactus Cantina podcast with Patel said that sometimes we just need to give ourselves permission.
Doesn’t that hit home!
The Power of Immersion: Patel’s Sensory Writing
Let’s talk about how Patel tells her stories—because if there’s one thing that makes her books stand out, it’s how deeply immersive they are.
She doesn’t just tell you what’s happening; she places you in it. You don’t just read about a setting—you feel it, taste it, smell it.
• In Scent of a Garden, you’re surrounded by the scent of flowers. At the same time, a perfumer has lost her sense of smell, leaving her unmoored . As she searches for a way forward, scent—or its absence—becomes a symbol of memory, self-discovery and finding her place again.
• The Curious Secrets of Yesterday weaves food into the heart of the story—honoring it as history, comfort and a bridge between past and present. Rooted in Ayurveda’s millennia-old wisdom, Patel explores how food nourishes not just the body but the spirit, carrying cultural memory, healing and connection across generations.
• Even The Candid Life of Meena Dave is rooted in place. The building Meena moves into isn’t just a setting—it’s a living, breathing community with its own history and secrets. As she hesitantly lets it draw her in, the space itself becomes part of her journey, challenging the walls she’s built around herself.
This is what makes Patel’s books linger. They’re not just about plot—they’re about experience.
Whether you’re drawn to stories about family, culture, self-discovery, or just love a book that makes you feel like you’re living inside it, Namrata Patel’s work delivers. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
Why Her Books Matter
Maybe that’s why her books resonate so deeply with me. I’ve always been fascinated by the push and pull of identity—how we exist in our relationships, how that shapes the way we see ourselves and how we navigate the world as our true selves—our best selves. Finding purpose, forging a path and accepting that both can evolve over time is no small task.
Patel’s stories explore these same themes in their own way, offering a deeply personal yet universal journey of self-discovery. No easy task! For me, yoga has been the thing that offers clarity in all of this—teaching me how to sit with discomfort, listen inward and embrace change. I’ve been grappling with my own questions about family, identity and how we move into different chapters of our lives. It’s no surprise that those themes have found their way into the novel I’m writing. Like Patel’s work, my story explores the weight of secrets, the pull of the past and the journey toward understanding who we really are, and the people and places we call home.