The Boat People: A Novel
Author(s): Sharon Bala
When a rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees from Sri Lanka's bloody civil war reaches Vancouver's shores, the young father thinks he and his six-year-old son can finally start a new life. Instead, the group is thrown into a detention processing center, with government officials and news headlines speculating that among the oboat peopleo are members of a separatist militant organization responsible for countless suicide attacks-and that these terrorists now pose a threat to Canada's national security. As the refugees become subject to heavy interrogation, Mahindan begins to fear that a desperate act taken in Sri Lanka to fund their escape may now jeopardize his and his son's chance for asylum.Told through the alternating perspectives of Mahindan; his lawyer, Priya, a second-generation Sri Lankan Canadian who reluctantly represents the refugees; and Grace, a third-generation Japanese Canadian adjudicator who must decide Mahindan's fate as evidence mounts against him, The Boat People is a spellbinding and timely novel that provokes a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis.
Product Information
Sharon Bala is a member of the Port Authority writing group and her short fiction has been published in several Canadian magazines. The Boat People is her debut novel.
General Fields
- :
- : Alfred A. Knopf
- : Alfred A. Knopf
- : 28 February 2018
- : United States
- : 01 April 2018
- : books
Special Fields
- : Sharon Bala
- : Sharon Bala
- : Paperback
- : Paperback
- : 418
- : 418
- : English
- : English
- : 813.6
- : 813.6
- : 352
- : 352