Scent of a Garden

A Novel

By: Namrata Patel

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

A perfumer in Paris is forced to return to her California roots in an exhilarating novel about family, self-discovery, and taking risks by the author of The Candid Life of Meena Dave.

The daughter of proud Napa Valley hoteliers, Asha “Poppy” Patel chose a different line as a Paris perfumer, gifted with a nose for fragrances and business. Until her heightened sense of smell disappears. Her career in jeopardy, her world now muted, Poppy returns home. Maybe tending to her grandmother’s massive aromatic garden, where Poppy’s gift first flowered, will bring restorative hope.

But when she arrives, Poppy discovers that the land upon which the beautiful garden once thrived has been uprooted and destroyed. She realizes that the years she spent away from her home have loosened so many ties with the past. Torn between a mother who lives vicariously through her and a father who wants her to embrace her family’s legacy, Poppy is determined to chart her own path of rediscovery.

Poppy must juggle family drama, childhood friendships, and a former love to forge a future of her own choosing and, in time, heal an unscented life.

©2023 Namrata Patel (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Patel has written a touching tale of one young woman’s reckoning with her family’s generational legacy, staying true to her roots and traditions while at the same time forging a path for herself. Full of warmth and humor, this book is recommended for all fiction collections.”—Booklist

“Full of softly beautiful descriptions and remarkably rendered characters, Patel’s sophomore novel grapples with familial pressures and legacies. It’s a sensual read, full of details pertaining not only to scents, as might be expected, but also to foods and visual descriptors.”—BookRiot.com

Fun

Gardening, beer, wine , and food. what more do you need? Interesting family dynamics luckily there is some humor. I did want to slap the main female character. she was way too much about herself. Fin though.

Love the grannies!

I wish there were more granny storyline. This is another predictable "can't be happy without my better half" story. Emphasis on "better". I'm so tired of that - maybe it's my age, 60, but we're doing younger women a disservice by promoting the idea of "someone else completes you". Heading back out in search of octogenarian stories with depth.

Great summer read

Loved this book especially the descriptions of plants and flowers. And the scent of the garden.

Happy, easy read

This book made my heart so happy, which made it easy to read. I loved the characters and the family ties. A story about a perfume was an interesting plot, but it was so much more. The narrator did a phenomenal job and this is a book I would read again and again!

Love story for Independent women

It was more than I expected from the first chapter. I love the family dynamics and the Nani’s are fun characters! Author depicts strong female characters and loving male characters. Excellent work

Beautiful

Audiobook
Asha Patel, daughter of prominent hoteliers in California, finds herself forced out of the position of her lifelong dream of being a cutting edge perfumer by the unfortunate twist of fate of losing her incredible gift of smell due to covid. As she takes a break, after having blown a huge opportunity, she returns home to her family and their hotel business to sort out her life.
I loved this view of an Indian family, their traditions and successes in American culture, while maintaining the beauty of their own culture.
Once home Asha has to face her family with her failure, and then learn how to embrace her family once again. Lovely story.

Good Story but…

I enjoyed this story and learned some about the perfume and hospitality business but I could not give it five stars because I just felt the main character was an immature brat. She seemed so upset about life going on without her while she was in France for about 15 years and the fact that she was upset about things and places were going to change without her being consulted even though she had been gone for so long really made me not like her very much. Neal and his sister were my two favorite characters in this story.

Don't like main character

She is selfish and narcissistic and a whiner. She has a wonderful boyfriend. I read another book by the author and liked it so was excited that this was coming out but was disappointed.

Wonderful book!

I highly recommend this novel. It’s story is heartbreaking but uplifting too. The author covers tragic events but also love and positivity so that the book is not a difficult read or overly depressing.

Great writer

Everything got tied up in a nice evening bow. Universal struggles. Nice to read the perspective in a book.