The Things That We Lost

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Frank, funny and light on its feet, it's a novel about generations, hopes and grief. A writer with a deft turn of phrase. Ali Smith With a deft and delicate touch, issues of racism, prejudice, culture clashes, secrets and sacrifices are shared through the history and stories of Avani, her parents, her husband, Elliot, and their son, Nik.

Audrey Burke and her warm and loving husband Brian have been happily married eleven years; they have a ten-year-old daughter named Harper and a six-year-old son named Dory. Jerry Sunborne is a heroin addict who has been Brian's close childhood friend for many years.

With such an evoking plot and diverse characters, The Things That We Lost is a terrific narrative about family, culture, love and loss. You are working on another novel around aBritish Gujarati family living in London. Could you tell us a little more about it?When do you hope to get this published? I examine the overt racism in Britain in the 1970s and ‘80s and juxtapose that with the quiet micro-aggressions and rise of outright racism too in the wake of the Brexit referendum. I wanted to explore if things have really changed, and how. Despite having a degree in literature, it wasn’t until my early twenties that I discovered novels by writers from the diaspora.

The Things That We Lost by Jyoti Patel is a poignantly rendered novel of family, loss and secrets, and the depths we go to protect those we love— and ourselves. Overcome by the recent death of his beloved grandfather, Nik turns to question the mystery surrounding the unexpected death of his late father, Elliot, who passed away before he was born. So begins a gentle unravelling of the layers of family history and painful secrets carefully masked by Nik’s mother, Avani, piece by piece, until both mother and son reach a tense precipice that threatens to fracture their entire relationship. This book is at heart an exploration of two things – grief and growing up in a multicultural family. Whether in memoirs, novels or short stories, I’m also interested in the negotiation that takes place between a narrator and reader when secrets are involved, whether the two stand side by side in unearthing them, or the dramatic irony that charges through a story when truths are revealed to one but not the other. Here are 10 books that pull off this kind of negotiation especially well. Family dynamics and relationships have always interested me — all of my writing, in one way or another, looks at what happens when fissures form between people. Also, as you mention, I wanted to show Avani and Nik almost growing up alongside each other in the 1970s and ’80s London and 2017-18 respectively, to examine what was going on in Britain during those two moments.The thing that really stood out for me in this book is Patel's representation of second - and third generation 'immigrant' families and mixed-race relationships in contemporary London; something that we haven't really seen enough of in literature given the prevalence of people in London (the setting of this book) with our vast array of varied inheritances and the mixing pot of our friendship groups from school onwards. It totally transformed my approach to writing and my taste in reading. What inspired you to write ‘The Things That We Lost’?

Immeasurably moving, a poignant and touching story about love and family bonds, and an especially tender portrait of a mother and son. Huma Qureshi Exploring identity through these characters, and just generally growing up, made me realise I didn’t have to choose one or the other. What were the hardest parts of writing the novel?So there’s a lot going on in this book but it’s not cluttered and not at all writing-course-y, but flows naturally with themes of friendship and family and friendship within family pushing to the fore. There’s a beautiful redemptive moment with an uncle who had seemed to have become almost a cliche, and there’s a very nice dog which doesn’t have anything awful happen to it (phew). We’re not left with all the ends neatly tied, which I liked, but with enough resolution and hope to make it a positive as well as an interesting read. A deftly assured debut novel about a fractured family and how words left unspoken can be more devastating than the truth.' - Red Magazine