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Vishwanath’s Epigraph Poem for “Coming Home”

I dare to make mistakes 
I dare to ask for help
I dare to change
I dare not rest on my laurels 
I dare not be complacent
I dare not flow with the tide
I dare to steer my ship in new waters 
I dare to walk on uncharted paths
I dare to be different

I will learn
I will strengthen my wings
I will fly
Not with the fear of falling, but with the dream 
Of soaring higher

When the past cannot be rewritten 
And to give up or give in is not an option 
Then one must forge forward
With faith and hope that all will be well

When I hear the word “home”, I think about my family, my cultural traditions, the food, fashions, and special places in my life. I think about my dreams that came true or didn’t, my friends, family, and our destinies. I ponder my life decisions and pray I am following my life path as my soul intended. I pray that each day I am the best I can be, living with intention and being true to myself. I pray for true and lasting love – at least the judgment to recognize it and the courage to embrace it regardless of social conventions and expectations. Sometimes prayers are dares.

It’s no wonder I couldn’t put down this novel, ‘Coming Home’, by Smitha Vishwanath. I found the characters and story arcs relatable and compelling. Although the book is 424 pages long, the chapters are short and so well-structured that I couldn’t help but move forward page by page, uninterrupted, except by meals and sleep. 

I was drawn in immediately by the opening scenes of death, grief, and loss. The death of a mother is traumatic. This opening chapter introduces essential characters and their emotional landscapes at a tender moment. Death, which means ‘any loss’, recalls stories that “cannot be rewritten”.

The tension created by cultural norms to be strong and even remote in the face of loss is the antagonist in this book. How will Shanaya, the protagonist, resolve her grief and find her way “home” if she is emotionally cut off from loved ones and cut off from herself? Losing a mother, who was the center of the home, is significant because the family roles are affected; people are thrown off center. The loss of a mother is the loss of a “home”, so I was able to relate to the numbness and the sensation that family members are spiraling away from each other in response to their loss.

Throughout her journey to healing and wholeness, Shanaya demonstrates forbearance, holding her emotions in for the sake of her job or someone else’s esteem. It is as though she has built a wall around her heart, a natural reaction to grief but also a response to the need to be strong in the face of bereavement, which can leave one feeling disoriented. This may be why she ends up visiting an ashram, a spiritual home which provides “faith and hope / that all will be well”.

Tension also arises from the pull of cultural expectations to marry the man her mother and Poona Aunty had chosen a few years earlier, whom she respects and loves as a suitable choice. However, Suresh is so engrossed in his medical practice that he isn’t emotionally available to Shanaya, whose responses to his absences are often stoic, even at a time when his absence due to an emergency surgery could be seen as a massive betrayal. Can he possibly be her new “home”? Indeed, this choice of a partner was what her mother and cultural convention expected for her. The pull to please is not lost on the reader.

I dare not flow with the tide
I dare to steer my ship in new waters

Is “home” a geographic location? On her journey “home”, we find Shanaya visiting or working in many places. At one point, she wonders when she will ever see “a true home”.  She’s taking a risk to recover from loss and redefine her relationship with herself. Her journeys are symbolic. A quest.

I dare to walk on uncharted paths
I dare to be different

Is finding a true home related to destiny? In her wanderlust, she keeps crossing paths with Jai, who works in her field, banking, and who becomes increasingly present to her during difficult times. The attraction is obvious, though she tries to hide it. Again, the antagonist, stoicism, prevents or delays their “merger” – to use a business term. Shanaya exhibits coolness and composure toward him. And even he bears up, patiently waiting for a deeper connection. 

This connection is made possible with the death of someone special to Shanaya. After this tragic loss, the stoic emotions that had built a wall around her heart start to crumble, and she can open up to her own true nature and destiny. Death creates new possibilities and dreams. A rebirth. Shanaya faces the antagonist: herself. She can move forward toward her true home.

I will strengthen my wings
I will fly
Not with the fear of falling, but with the dream 
Of soaring higher

Coming Home is a multi-dimensional love story about the love of family, friends, a life partner, and self-love. It’s also about forgiving others and oneself. Shanaya’s most life-changing decisions center on her heart. Will she forsake cultural expectations, break an engagement, and eventually surrender to true love? That is, “come home” to her heart, which is her true home, and to her destiny with new love?

Vishwanath’s skill in telling this love story is impeccable. The story arc is well-designed. As I said, the pacing was excellent, so I couldn’t put the book down. I also appreciated the character development, which was vividly portrayed through the characters’ mannerisms, actions, fashions, and well-written dialogue. The balance of dialogue with the characters’ internal observations helped me to track the challenges and changes in Shanaya.

Finally, because of the masterful descriptions of the exotic places, stunning fashions, and luscious food, right down to detailed geographic features, colors, materials, design, ingredients, spices, and aromas, I felt I was Shanaya’s shadow, right there with her at every turn of the page. Not just the shadow: I was Shanaya, whose story resonates as a universal truth.

I highly recommend that you read Coming Home, written by Smitha Vishwanath, an award-winning author. It’s available on Amazon.

Copyright of the Review © 2025 Barbara Leonhard

Smitha Vishwanath’s poems have found a place in several International online publications, including Thieving Magpies, Spillwords Press, MasticadoresUSA, Silverbirch Press, Borderless Journal and other noteworthy anthologies. She has received many awards and honors from Spillwords,and has been nominated for Best of the Net. She received the Reuel International Prize (2022) for her poetry during National Poetry Writing Month. Coming Home, her debut novel, was released in March 2023. Before this, she co-authored a book of poems, ROADS : A Journey with Verses, in July 2019.   

Smitha currently resides with her husband in Dhaka, Bangladesh. When Smitha’s not writing, you’ll find her reading, blogging, painting, going on long walks absorbing the sights around her, sharing book reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and her blog, or just being. Her poems and writing reflect the experiences of having travelled extensively, lived in different countries and worked in a multicultural environment. You can follow Smitha on her blog: https://smithavpennings.com.

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