Meet Me in the Garden

Nina LaCour’s Meet Me in the Garden (2026) is a work of historical literary fiction from the Michael L. Printz Award–winning author of We Are Okay. The novel, which follows her first book for adults, Yerba Buena, chronicles two decades in the life of Odette Honoré, a young Creole artist from New Orleans. As Odette navigates grief over her father’s death and her own secret queer identity, her life becomes entwined with her cousin Delphine’s dangerous affair and a series of family betrayals that follow them from the segregated South to post-war Los Angeles. Forced to make destructive choices to protect herself and those she loves, Odette embarks on a long journey toward self-discovery as an artist, a mother, and a woman learning to live truthfully. The narrative explores the themes of The Psychological Cost of Hiding One’s True Identity, Creative Expression as an Emotional Outlet, and The Strength of Family Bonds.

Upon its release, Meet Me in the Garden received a starred review from Booklist and was chosen as a Book of the Month selection for August 2026. The novel functions as both a bildungsroman, tracing Odette’s evolution from quiet acquiescence to self-actualization, and a work of domestic fiction. The story examines the complex lives of a Louisiana Creole family grappling with issues of race, class, and identity as part of the Great Migration. Against a richly detailed historical backdrop, the novel charts one woman’s path to defining family and love on her own terms, ultimately finding reconciliation through her art and her courage to build an authentic life.

This guide refers to the 2026 Flatiron Books First Edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of racism, antigay bias, mental illness, illness, death, pregnancy loss, substance use, cursing, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, child abuse, physical abuse, animal cruelty, and animal death.

Language Note: The source text uses terms for Black people that are consistent with the novel’s historical setting but are considered offensive today, such as “Negro” and “colored.”

These terms appear only in quotations in this study guide.

Plot Summary

In 1944 New Orleans, Odette Honoré, a young Creole woman and aspiring artist, grieves the recent death of her father, who died of tuberculosis in an asylum after being committed by her mother, Maman. Odette finds comfort in her secret relationship with a woman named Hattie Laurent and her exceptionally close bond with her cousin, Delphine. This bond is tested when Delphine reveals she is having an affair with a white photographer named Bill Kelley, whose studio displays her portrait next to a “Whites Only” sign. Soon after, Delphine discovers she is pregnant. Fearing her mother will have her committed to the same mental hospital where Odette’s father died, she and Bill flee to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Odette’s sisters Claire and Adele and their husbands, Bernard and Al, also plan to move to Los Angeles for better opportunities. Odette’s relationship with Maman deteriorates completely when she learns from a family friend, Felix, that Maman lied about being unable to hold a funeral for Papa and that she had abandoned him to an unmarked grave.

Heartbreak continues to shape Odette’s life when Hattie insists they have no future together even though she loves Odette. Hattie pushes her to marry her brother, Cyril, who is being deployed for the war. Believing it is her only way to stay connected to Hattie, Odette agrees. The brief marriage ends when Cyril is killed in a training accident, leaving Odette a pregnant widow. As she prepares to leave for Los Angeles with her sisters, a letter arrives from Delphine stating that she must pass as white to survive with Bill and must sever all contact. Before departing New Orleans, Odette and Al’s brother, Lionel, visit Papa’s grave. Confronted with the stark reality of Maman’s betrayal, Odette and Lionel scream out their shared rage and grief in a borrowed car, leaving their fraught home behind for good.

Years later in Los Angeles, Odette lives in Compton with her son, Clément, alongside her extended family. She works on the Finishing line at Columbia Records, where Al and Bernard are now managers. At a party, she meets a coworker named Ginny and feels a powerful, unspoken attraction. They share a single kiss before Ginny moves to Montana. Odette’s quiet life is shattered when she witnesses Delphine in the midst of a psychotic episode in the middle of Crenshaw Boulevard. Delphine flees, and a frantic search reveals she has been institutionalized at Camarillo State Hospital after being abandoned by Bill. Odette also learns Delphine has a daughter, Nathalie, whom Odette and Al find alone at a laundromat and bring into their family. Claire and Bernard initially plan to adopt Nathalie, as Odette is unmarried and therefore is barred from adopting a child.

The situation grows more complex when Odette visits Delphine in the hospital. Traumatized by her illness and the impending loss of her daughter, Delphine demands Odette tell Nathalie that she is dead. She threatens to reveal that Odette is a lesbian to their conservative family if she refuses. Delphine also insists that Odette, not Claire, must be the one to adopt Nathalie. Terrified and cornered, Odette agrees to the lie. Soon after, Claire, who is pregnant, realizes that Odette has a unique bond with Nathalie and decides she should be the one to adopt her. To meet the legal requirement for adoption, Odette proposes a marriage of convenience to Felix, who is gay. They marry, officially adopt Nathalie, and buy a house in Willowbrook. Odette finds a new community in art, befriending a wealthy enthusiast named Elise Eriksen and building a painting studio in her yard. The arrangement provides stability until Felix, unable to sustain the pretense, returns to New Orleans and severs all contact.

As the years pass, Odette raises her children and develops her art, but the lie about Delphine remains a constant source of tension. Just as Nathalie and Clément are about to graduate high school, Nathalie discovers that Delphine is alive, leading to a furious confrontation where she accuses Odette of having stolen her. Around the same time, Odette’s paintings are shown in Elise’s New York gallery and sell out on opening night, affirming her identity as an artist. Feeling a shift in her life, Odette finally goes to Ginny, who has long since returned to Los Angeles, and asks her to move in. Ginny agrees, and Odette comes out to her sisters. Adele is immediately supportive while Claire is initially shocked and resistant.

The fractured family is brought together by the 1965 Watts Rebellion, during which they all take refuge in Odette and Ginny’s secluded house. In the aftermath, a letter arrives from Delphine, who is living in San Francisco and wants to see Odette and Nathalie. The reunion is strained, but Delphine explains that her primary fear is that Nathalie has inherited her schizophrenia, and she needed to make contact to ensure she was well. Though a full reconciliation is impossible, the meeting provides a fragile sense of closure. The novel ends with Odette and Ginny’s commitment ceremony, a celebration held in their garden. Felix, Lionel, and a reconciled Claire and Adele are all present. Standing in her studio before her monumental new painting, titled Meet Me in the Garden, Odette reflects on her family’s long journey and her own, finally embracing a life built on love, truth, and art.