The Things That We Lost

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I look at life in the 1970s and ‘80s when Avani is a teenager and contrast that with Nik in 2017-18 for two reasons — to make it a coming-of-age story for both of them and also to look at the history of Britain during that time. I didn’t think so much about fitting it into genres when writing because I didn’t want to feel constrained or restricted. I didn’t want to think too much about the reader because I felt the pressure of that would have overcooked the writing. I started with the characters and wanted to get to know them fully. Then, I went where they led me. In recent years, there has been a spate of novels by writers of Indian descent. Could you name some of your favourites? 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 shared narrative between mother, Avani and her son Nik, this beautifully written book explores their relationship following the death of Avani’s father. Throughout the book we follow the aftermath through the perspectives of both characters - we understand more and more about each character as the book progresses through snippets of their past experiences, conversations with friends and family and their innermost thoughts and feelings that they each keep to themselves. Where there are families there are stories and where there are stories there are always secrets. It’s ripe crop for a writer. In literature, these are a staple of the coming-of-age novel. Family secrets seem to rise to the surface when a protagonist steps from childhood into adulthood, in that equally devastating and freeing moment of realising that one exists both within a family and outside of it, too. I definitely connected with this book and with the characters due to my Gujarati heritage. I recognised a lot of Gujarati traditions, words and phrases which are so familiar to me and it was so refreshing seeing them written in a book. Astonishingly, she wakes up the next day to a different life, which is many years previous to the life she was living. While getting accustomed to this different life, she finds out that her choice hasn't led her to be the better person she was in her previous life making her to set out to right as many wrongs as she could in the life she now seems to live. It is a captivating and beautifully written bildungsroman and ode to parental love. You really become invested in this family - Avani and Elliot's love story, the vital role that creativity plays in exploring the deepest emotion, and Nik's transition through a difficult phase of life whilst getting to know his family history.

The novel touches on intense themes such as grief and trauma. What was the motivation behind this?

The next novel feels like a lighter, funnier read following a British Gujarati female protagonist in her late twenties. Families and secrets are also a big theme.

My favourite parts of the novel included the dialogue which, particularly in the sections featuring Nik, is a lively mix of London street slang and untranslated Gujurati. I also liked the portrayal of male mental illness struggles – both in the life of Nik but also his father. There was also a side-plot involving a relative of Elliott that, while I wavered over its plausibility, was well handled. Maddie is married to Nathan and they have two little girls. She's unfulfilled even though she has a great career as a novelist. When she reconnects with her university boyfriend Jayson, she wonders if she had made a mistake following her current path. She goes to sleep and wakes up in a different reality--it's ten years earlier, she and Jayson are together, and nothing in her life is how she remembers. Can she figure out what is going on? The post prologue open chapter has Nik visiting his dying grandfather (Avani’s father) in hospital before his death – his grandfather gives him a key to something that he has kept for Nik for years, but is reluctant to discuss Elliott, suggesting instead Nik speaks to Chand.

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Patel’s novel was published this January following her winning the #Merky Books New Writer’s Prize in April 2021. “It was really a dream come true, even just to be longlisted and shortlisted,” she tells me. “But to win and to have a book deal was just incredible.” I spoke to Patel about The Things That We Lost , feeling othered, and the importance of representing male friendship in fiction. A deftly assured debut novel about a fractured family and how words left unspoken can be more devastating than the truth.' - Red Magazine Maggie Giles’ debut offers a cast of deeply-flawed characters, centering around Maddie. Insightfully, she starts the story with her family life, so readers establish empathy in the very real love for her two small girls. She mourns their loss, even as she tries to work her way through the mire of her earlier life. But can she overcome her own selfish tendencies and bad decisions to enable a convergence to a better version of herself?

Nik has lots of questions about his late father but knows better than to ask his mother, Avani. It's their unspoken rule. 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.

Maggie Giles didn’t waste a single word writing this story. Every single thought and action leads to its beautiful unraveling. And, even though she uses an old trope, the story feels fresh and creative. It makes for a beautiful, relaxing and fascinating experience -Highly recommended" - Free Game Planet The story is told through the perspectives of both Avani and Nik. How significant was it for you to keep these two strands distinct?