When going home means facing the ghosts you tried to forget: Do Not Follow by Surbhi Bansal

Returning home after years away can feel like stepping back into a life you no longer recognize. In Do Not Follow by Surbhi Bansal, that homecoming forces one woman to confront the choices, expectations, and silences that have shaped her entire life.

Seema, once a promising surgeon, is now a consignment store owner living far from the path her family imagined for her. When her father dies, she returns to Albany after seventeen years to help her mother sort through their family home. What follows is a deeply emotional story about grief, identity, and the unspoken costs of cultural and familial duty.

This is as much a story about the immigrant experience as it is about family and selfhood. Bansal offers a fascinating look at Indian immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for decades — people who’ve seemingly attained the American Dream but still wrestle with the invisible weight of tradition. The characters balance assimilation and cultural preservation in complex, sometimes contradictory ways that feel deeply authentic.

Where Do Not Follow really stands out, though, is in its portrayal of Seema’s mother. Infantilized for much of her life, she’s been treated less as a person than as a dependent. Watching her revert to near-childlike behavior as her husband’s belongings are packed up is heartbreaking. It raises uncomfortable questions: Did she ever want to stay in her home? Was she ever allowed to want anything at all? Her son’s eagerness to clear out her things — and Seema’s quiet complicity — makes it feel as though their mother is being passed along like an heirloom instead of cherished as a person.

The novel also simmers with the sensory richness of food and memory. There’s so much cooking, tasting, and sharing here that I was constantly hungry while reading. I’ve never lived in a place where authentic Indian food was readily available, so I’m not familiar with most of the dishes mentioned. But I do have access to Google, so you know I was looking that up! I may have to try out some recipes at home now if I can find something simple enough for my limited cooking skills. A couple of recipes I looked at called for like 38 ingredients, and I was like, “What?” But the potato and cauliflower dish Seema’s mother made sounded simple enough, so maybe I’ll start there.

Ultimately, Do Not Follow is about the parts of ourselves we abandon to become who we think we’re supposed to be — and the reckoning that follows when we finally stop running.

Release date: October 28, 2025 — available now for pre-order.

What did you think of Do Not Follow? Did Seema’s story remind you of your own family dynamics or cultural experiences? Share your thoughts in the comments below — I’d love to hear your take.

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• Albums of Belonging (Surbhi Bansal)
• My story as an Indian immigrant (PBS News)
• Being a First Generation Immigrant from India (Association of Women Surgeons)
• Indian migration to North America: A tale worth telling (CrimeReads)

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