We chat with author Lavanya Lakshmi about Leave and Come Back, which asks what it means to open up to love, what makes a family, and how to honor the past while embracing the present.
Hi, Lavanya! When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was always encouraged to read as a young kid and I lived in a household where my parents not just read a lot, but watched movies and listened to music. We often went to live music events and going to the movie theatre was always one of our favourite activities. In high school, any book I’d read for my English curriculum, my mom would read and discuss with me. I always dabbled in writing, from when I can remember being able to hold a pencil – so in a lot of ways, I never even discovered my love for stories and writing. I was born into it!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: I can’t remember the very first but I remember the first book that devastated me: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls – Sir, you own me emotional compensation!
- The one that made you want to become an author: Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things – my favourite book since I read it at eighteen
Your debut novel, Leave and Come Back, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Vibrant, romantic, nostalgic, fun, poignant
What can readers expect?
A lot of shenanigans—and a lot of emotion! LEAVE AND COME BACK takes place during a two-week long, multi-event, four-hundred attendee wedding so there’s always lots of action—but simultaneously, it’s about a young woman who is returning to her estranged home for the first time in seven years and all the wounds and drama that brings up, completely compounded when her new boyfriend shows up uninvited and immediately gets on the wrong side of the family matriarch!
Where did the inspiration for Leave and Come Back come from?
There is a Bollywood movie called DDLJ that is very, very famous—think Titanic-levels of famous, but it’s a romantic dramedy. I always loved the storyline and the actors and often thought about what it would be like to write a version of that story, where a young man is coming into a tight-knit family he doesn’t know and trying to win them over to prove he’s good enough for their daughter—who he’s in love with and is also pretending to not know. It’s such a good premise! My novel comes at it from the perspective of the daughter and her family.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
One of my favourite things about the editing process was that every character—there’s a bit of an ensemble—was able to get a moment where they shine and you get to see them beyond the two weeks that this book takes place in. But of all of them, I think Kavitha is my favourite – she’s the middle child, the one who is left behind, sometimes overlooked, but she’s funny and the beating heart of this family and she keeps everyone together, even as they resist it.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Yes! Probably my biggest challenge is that I am a deeply impatient person—and both writing a novel and publishing a novel are slow processes that take time. In fact, they benefit from time! So I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome my impatience—but seeing that it results in a better book, in me being a better writer, in retrospect helps. A bit.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was long! More than a decade ago, I used to write stories on the internet – I first got an agent then. But it didn’t work out and I wound up shelving that book, and my agent and I parted ways. That was difficult—I stopped writing for a long time. Then I slowly picked it back up—my best friend is a published author, Jessica Joyce, and she is the most encouraging person. I wrote a quick first draft, entered it into a contest where it won a free developmental edit from a great editor named Bethany Hensel. I then edited it for a few more months before getting my agent, Aram Fox. Aram and I reworked the book for nearly a year before we went to acquisition. I name all these names and go through all these steps because I wouldn’t have ended up with the book I have without them and these people. If you’re writing, keep at it – this path is a marathon, not a sprint.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on my next novel! I’m very superstitious about sharing anything before it’s ready but all I can say is that it’s got a focus on female friendship and I’m having a great time with it.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
- I read Heart the Lover by Lily King and it ripped by guts out in the best way! I’d recommend reading it after you read its loose prequel Writers and Lovers.
- Leanne Toshiko Simpson’s Never Been Better is like if My Best Friend’s Wedding met Silver Linings Playbook and it’s a perfect summer read—breezy but substantive.
- Anything by Annabel Monaghan, Regina Black, Jessica Joyce or Hannah Bonam-Young—you simply cannot go wrong with them!
- My next read is going to be The Matchmaker’s Cottage by Kat Sloane—it’s out in August and I know it’s going ot be the perfect cozy, heart-squeezing fall read.
