Your Next Life Is Now

Patel (Scent of a Garden) mixes a mother-daughter road novel with a tale of dueling Indian American families in this well-crafted outing. Nikki Parekh, a Boston life coach who recently got engaged to Jay Mehta after six months of dating, craves approval from her aloof mother, Tara, who, in turn, wants Nikki to make something more of herself before settling down. Tara has long been unhappy in her arranged marriage to Nikki’s father, Devon, from whom she’s recently asked for a divorce. Back in the 1980s, Devon discouraged Tara from attending grad school at MIT after she was accepted there, and she’s only glimpsed true love once, with a fellow student named Ben when she was in college. Now, when an heirloom disappears during the couple’s engagement party, Jay’s mother accuses Tara of stealing it. Tara then impulsively buys an RV, hoping to get back in touch with herself, and to look up Ben in Maine, having tracked him down online. Worried about her mother and not knowing the whole story, Nikki joins her. Patel exhibits a deft touch in her depiction of the women’s tension, which is resolved once Tara opens up about the past, and there’s no shortage of juicy drama between the striving Parekhs and the higher-caste Mehtas. This entertains. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (Nov.)