"Shot-through with love and courage, this page-turner of a debut brims with moving truths about grief, identity, family relationships, and “where are you really from?” racism."
At once a moving, immersive exploration of grief and the complex truths behind family relationships and behaviours, Jyoti Patel’s The Things That We Lost debut also packs punch as an emotional page-turner.
Nik knows not to ask his mother about his dad, or his estranged stepfather. Alongside refusing to speak of them, she’s also buried secrets about her own troubled upbringing. But when her father dies, Nik seizes an opportunity to dig into the past. Struggling at university away from home in a white-majority town, and struggling with the omnipresence of grief for his grandfather (“When it isn’t howling in the night, it’s gently tugging at his sleeve, reminding him it’s there, exercising its right to his attention”), Nik uncovers uncomfortable truths that eventually lead him back to his mother with greater understanding and love.
Achingly beautiful in its portrayal of how we protect the ones we love, the novel is also outstanding on Nik’s identity as a Briton of Indian heritage, subjected to “Where are you really from?” interrogations that result in him experiencing his identity “like a pair of scales; the weight of the answer depending on the intention of the person asking.”
Nik has lots of questions about his late father but knows better than to ask his mother, Avani. It's their unspoken rule.
When his grandfather dies, Nik has the opportunity to learn about the man he never met. Armed with a key and new knowledge about his parents' past, Nik sets out to unlock the secrets that his mother has been holding onto his whole life.
As the carefully crafted portrait Avani has painted for her son begins to crack, and painful truths emerge, can the two of them find their way back to each other?
The Things That We Lost is a beautifully tender exploration of family, loss and the lengths to which we go to protect the ones we love.
Incredibly moving, this is an immersive novel focusing on grief but also love and relationships. I fell in love with Avani and Nik, characters so real I could hardly believe they're fictional. Jyoti Patel is a hugely exciting new writer. - Louise Hare, This Lovely City and Miss Aldridge Regrets
An assured debut from a vital new voice. About family, grief and belonging, Patel weaves an intricate story that will stay with you. - Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby and The Good Immigrant
