In Namrata Patel’s sophomore novel, Scent of a Garden, listeners are transported to the perfumery capital of the world and immersed in a nuanced story about family, love, and the ability to consolidate who you think you should be with who you really are. We spoke with the author about her new novel, new characters, and the return of a beloved voice—listener favorite Soneela Nankani.

Audible: You seamlessly incorporated Covid-19 into Scent of a Garden in a way that was central to the story. How did you feel about the premise initially, and did it evolve in the process of writing?

Namrata Patel: I wrestled with this a lot. We’re still living with the tail end of what happened to us globally. I wanted to write about how our lives can dramatically change, but I wasn’t sure about that thing being Covid. It felt too painful, too soon, in a way. I also didn’t want the mention of the pandemic to take the listener out of the story or revisit the trauma they may have personally faced. I strive to write escapism, to immerse the audience in another world. So, I circled around it for a while (my editor might have called it avoidance) until I accepted that 2020 is now a historical turning point. We lived through a paradigm shift and can’t deny or avoid it. Ultimately, though this happened to Asha, her story is about perseverance and the opportunity that dramatic/traumatic change can offer.

Both Scent of a Garden and The Candid Life of Meena Dave explore themes of self-acceptance, culture, and belonging while immersing listeners into the lives of characters who balance their Eastern and Western identities. How have your own life experiences helped shape these characters?

It’s interesting how far we’ve come in terms of recognizing that many of us live as an East-West mix. Twenty to 30 years ago, terms like hyphenated identity were mostly used in academia. Growing up, we would code-switch without knowing what it was. It is human nature to want to fit, assimilate, and be a part of a group or culture, so we toggled inside and outside. When I was at home, I mostly lived within the Indian culture through the language we spoke, the food we ate, etc. Outside of it, I tried to be Western with musical theatre and team sports. Except that the outside world only saw me as ‘other.’ I didn’t really come to understand it from an intellectual or psychological level until graduate school.

In my novels, I explore what it means to live this duality and how we experience belonging. Not from a place of pain or suffering—everyone has that in some form—but with a sense of appreciation. I try to focus on the beautiful aspects of multiculturalism and how it intersects with identity, so that it’s not an either/or proposition and is instead a blended experience that gives our lives richness.

Listener favorite Soneela Nankani is returning to narrate Scent of a Garden. How does it feel for you to hear her embody your characters?

OMG, Soneela is amazing. Prior to her having narrated my first book, The Candid Life of Meena Dave, I listened to other books she narrated, including Mansi Shah’s The Taste of Ginger. I really love her rhythm and tone. Soneela not only interprets the text but embodies the characters and the story so that the listener feels immersed in the novel. My writing tends to be descriptive, and when I listen to her other novels, I stay tuned in because of how she changes her cadence and pace. And her ability to pronounce words in multiple languages is an added bonus. My first novel had some Icelandic words, and Scent of a Garden has a bit of French language, and it’s important for the listener to get as close as possible to non-English pronunciations. I am really fortunate to have her again.

In my novels, I explore what it means to live this duality and how we experience belonging. Not from a place of pain or suffering—everyone has that in some form—but with a sense of appreciation.

Are you a listener of audio yourself?

I’m an auditory learner, so listening is the best way to understand and retain information. I love podcasts and that was my first foray into audio storytelling. Audiobooks have been a game-changer for me. There’s this new debate around whether audiobooks count as reading, and I think it’s fun to have that conversation. For me, yes, they do because you’re still embedded in the story, the experience is as rich and engaging. I pick up more when I listen to a book than read, especially with our attention spans being what they are now. And you can’t deny that it expands accessibility for our stories.

What do you want listeners to most take away from Poppy’s story?

Sometimes an ending can become a beginning.

Lastly, an important question: coffee or chai?

Chai—especially the way my dad makes it for me.