A Long Way Home: A Boy's Incredible Journey from India to Australia and Back Again

Saroo Brierley (2015)

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THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

This is a true story of a five-year-old Indian boy, Saroo Brierley, who was tragically separated from his older brother and got lost on a train. He didn’t know his last name or his hometown, and he was forced to survive for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before an agency found him and arranged for an adoption in Australia. Years later, thanks to countless hours perusing through Google Earth, literally looking for landmarks and calculating train speeds, he was able to piece it all together to miraculously find his boyhood home. A Long Way Home is not of course a traditional travel book, but the story of Brierley's journey is an amazingly inspirational and heartwarming testament to the importance of seeking, and to the thrill of finding. The best-selling book was turned into a beautiful film called Lion, starring Dev Patel that was nominated for six Academy Awards.

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GREAT QUOTES FROM A LONG WAY HOME

"This is the first person I've been able to talk to properly since I arrived in India, and my story comes tumbling out quickly; I used to live here when I was a little boy, I went off with my brother and got lost, I grew up in another country, I couldn't even remember the name of this place, but now I've found my way back here, to Ganesh Talai, to try to find my mother, my brother, and my sisters, Kamdu, Guddu, Kallu, Shekila. He looks surprised at the story, and I recite the names again. After a moment, he says 'Please wait here. I'll be back in two minutes.' My mind races with possibilities - what has he gone to get? Someone who might know what happened to them? An address, even? But has he understood who I am? I don't have to wait long until he's back. And he says the words I'll never forget. "Come with me. I'm going to take you to your mother.'"

INTERESTING LINKS:

Listen to the NPR interview with author Saroo Brierley, in 2014
Learn more about the story in the Vanity Fair article, "A Home at the end of Google Earth"
A Long Way Home was turned into a movie in 2016 called Lion, starting Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman. The name comes from the fact that Saroo learned he that his name was actually Sheru, a diminutive word for the Hindi word for "Lion".