Review: Scent of a Garden: A Novel – Namrata Patel

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.

I genuinely enjoyed this story about a perfumer who lost her sense of smell during Covid.

As the daughter of Napa Valley hoteliers, Asha “Poppy” Patel has an important decision to make, or will she wait for her sense of smell to return? She leaves Paris, where she was working, to return home to California with the question lingering over her head.

This story was well-written, and I loved reading about her family. The dynamics were on point. She also has a family friend named Neel, who I hope the author will write about in future books about this family. Scent of A Garden is a feel-good story with enough drama to hold your attention. I enjoyed meeting some of her family members, who I hope to read about in a future book. These characters have more stories to give us.

Reviewed by: Linda C.

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