The Boat People
Sharon Bala
Jan 2018 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Athena Karkanis
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13 hr 29 min
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About this audiobook
By the winner of The Journey Prize, and inspired by a real incident, The Boat People is a gripping and morally complex novel about a group of refugees who survive a perilous ocean voyage to reach Canada – only to face the threat of deportation and accusations of terrorism in their new land.
When the rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees reaches the shores of British Columbia, the young father is overcome with relief: he and his six-year-old son can finally put Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war behind them and begin new lives. Instead, the group is thrown into prison, with government officials and news headlines speculating that hidden among the “boat people” are members of a terrorist militia. As suspicion swirls and interrogation mounts, Mahindan fears the desperate actions he took to survive and escape Sri Lanka now jeopardize his and his son’s chances for asylum.
Told through the alternating perspectives of Mahindan; his lawyer Priya, who reluctantly represents the migrants; and Grace, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian adjudicator who must decide Mahindan’s fate, The Boat People is a high-stakes novel that offers a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis. Inspired by real events, with vivid scenes that move between the eerie beauty of northern Sri Lanka and combative refugee hearings in Vancouver, where life and death decisions are made, Sharon Bala’s stunning debut is an unforgettable and necessary story for our times.
When the rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees reaches the shores of British Columbia, the young father is overcome with relief: he and his six-year-old son can finally put Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war behind them and begin new lives. Instead, the group is thrown into prison, with government officials and news headlines speculating that hidden among the “boat people” are members of a terrorist militia. As suspicion swirls and interrogation mounts, Mahindan fears the desperate actions he took to survive and escape Sri Lanka now jeopardize his and his son’s chances for asylum.
Told through the alternating perspectives of Mahindan; his lawyer Priya, who reluctantly represents the migrants; and Grace, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian adjudicator who must decide Mahindan’s fate, The Boat People is a high-stakes novel that offers a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis. Inspired by real events, with vivid scenes that move between the eerie beauty of northern Sri Lanka and combative refugee hearings in Vancouver, where life and death decisions are made, Sharon Bala’s stunning debut is an unforgettable and necessary story for our times.
By the winner of The Journey Prize, and inspired by a real incident, The Boat People is a gripping and morally complex novel about a group of refugees who survive a perilous ocean voyage to reach Canada – only to face the threat of deportation and accusations of terrorism in their new land.
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About the author
SHARON BALA’s bestselling debut novel, The Boat People, won the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the 2020 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction, was a finalist for Canada Reads 2018, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, and was longlisted for the 2019 Aspen Words Literary Prize and the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award. In 2017, Sharon won the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for her short story “Butter Tea at Starbucks." She lives in St. John's, Newfoundland, where she is currently the Creative Non-Fiction Editor at Riddle Fence.
Athena Karkanis is currently working on the 6th and final season of House of Cards. She was recently seen (concealing her pregnancy) as the villain on the third and final season of CBS’s Zoo. Athena is known for her role as Dani Khalil opposite Mark Strong and Lennie James on AMC’s acclaimed series Low Winter Sun. She can also be seen on Suits, The Expanse, The Lottery, The Border, Murdoch Mysteries, Ransom, in three of the Saw movies and more. Her voice can be heard on dozens of cartoons, video games.
Athena Karkanis is currently working on the 6th and final season of House of Cards. She was recently seen (concealing her pregnancy) as the villain on the third and final season of CBS’s Zoo. Athena is known for her role as Dani Khalil opposite Mark Strong and Lennie James on AMC’s acclaimed series Low Winter Sun. She can also be seen on Suits, The Expanse, The Lottery, The Border, Murdoch Mysteries, Ransom, in three of the Saw movies and more. Her voice can be heard on dozens of cartoons, video games.
SHARON BALA’s bestselling debut novel, The Boat People, won the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the 2020 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction, was a finalist for Canada Reads 2018, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, and the ...
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