A Long Way Home includes a prologue, 13 chapters, and an epilogue. The prologue describes the nerve-wracking moments before Saroo reunites with his birth mother after more than two decades. Finding his childhood home empty, Saroo fears his mother died or moved to a distant place until a stranger happens by and takes him to her.Ĭhapter 1 describes Saroo’s early years in the home of his adoptive parents, Sue and John Brierley. Saroo experiences culture shock when he first arrives in Hobart, the capital of the Australian island-state of Tasmania. His parents ease his transition, while showering him with love and affection.Ĭoming from abject poverty, Saroo must adjust to having his own room, being able to eat his fill, and going to school. Saroo quickly adapts to life in Australia, but he often dreams of India and his biological family. Chasing Shadows Book Club Kit Calendar Connect with Lynn Home Privacy Site Archives. A year after arriving in Hobart, he tells Sue he is from a place called ‘Ginestlay’ and that he got lost after taking a train at ‘Berampur’ Station. The narrative then looks back at Saroo’s life in India. Saroo lives in a one-room house in a suburb of Khandwa called Ganesh Talai, which he shares with his Hindu mother, Kamla, his two older brothers, Guddu and Kallu, and his infant sister, Shekila. Saroo’s Muslim father abandoned the family, forcing Kamla to take odd jobs and the children to scrounge and steal. One night, five-year-old Saroo accompanies Guddu to Burhanpur Station to beg for food and money.

Guddu tells him to wait while he takes care of something. To find out more, please see Appropriate Use When Posting Content. We welcome your respectful and on-topic comments and questions in this limited public forum. Saroo falls asleep, wakes up cold, and climbs on to an empty train. Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley.

The sun has risen, and the train is moving when Saroo wakes up hours later. He gets off in Kolkata and asks strangers for help finding ‘Ginestlay’ and ‘Berampur,’ but most people ignore him. He spends the following weeks begging and stealing on the dangerous streets of Kolkata.

Saroo’s life takes an unexpected turn when a teenaged boy turns him over to the police. Saroo is placed in a juvenile detention center, where he is bullied and beaten. The Long Way Home by Fanny Blake - Thoroughly enjoyable, with endearing, believable characters and long-held secrets Katie FfordeThe perfect summer read.

A long way home book club questions