Book Review: A Long Way Home

Saroo Brierley’s memoir, A Long Way Home, is an astounding story of a little boy lost in India, a vast and often dangerous country.

Saroo’s family was poor. His father had abandoned the family, leaving his mother, two older brothers, Saroo, and a little sister to fend for themselves in a one-room hut. The mother worked, but the pittance she made often wasn’t enough to feed the family. The two older boys could sometimes find little jobs, but mostly they foraged and begged for food.

Saroo, five years old, was often the only caretaker of his baby sister. But even Saroo would go into the neighborhood to beg or sneak food from the many vendor stalls in their poor neighborhood.

One evening in 1987 Saroo and his oldest brother took off on a borrowed bicycle and rode into the closest town. There was often food to be scavenged near the train depot. His brother temporarily ditched the bike, promising Saroo that he would be back soon. But he didn’t return. In searching for his brother, Saroo boarded a train, but the train took off 1,000 miles across India to Calcutta, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Uneducated, unable to speak the local dialect or even to remember the name of his hometown, the little boy wandered the streets, foraging for food, drinking water from a filthy river, desperately searching for safe places to sleep.

Authorities eventually placed Saroo in an orphanage and he soon was adopted by a loving Australian family. He had a good life in Tasmania, but was often haunted by his childhood memories of India and his family there. Twenty-five years later, with the help of Google Earth and a Facebook group, he was able to put enough of his memory fragments together to figure out where he had come from and possibly find his family.

A Long Way Home is a remarkable, well-written memoir. Brierley tells his story without fanfare, but with gratitude for all who helped him along the way. His memoir is an inspirational story of determination and hope.

Book Review: The Forgotten Garden

Kate Morton’s novel, The Forgotten Garden, is a mesmerizing story of mystery and imagination.

In 1913 a little girl arrives in Brisbane, Australia on a ship from England. She’s alone with nothing more than a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a book of fairytales. No one claims the little girl, and the dockmaster and his wife take her in. She eventually becomes the oldest of five girls in a loving, caring family. It has always bothered the dockmaster that Nell doesn’t know that they aren’t her real parents; nor does the girl remember her origins. On her twenty-first birthday she is finally told how she became one of their family. It is shattering news to Nell, who feels betrayed.

Thus begins a life of seeking to find her identity. After her own family is grown, Nell is finally free to trace her true origins. Her quest takes her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast, the home of the Mountrachet family.

Years later, Nell’s beloved granddaughter Cassandra takes up the search to unravel the puzzle of her late grandmother’s past.

The Forgotten Garden’s intricate story leaps from 1913 to 2005, then 1975, back further to 1900, etc. yet all the while moving the story forward. It’s a time-line masterpiece with each cycle solving a bit of the mystery while new puzzles surface.

This is a novel that takes time to read and absorb. Kate Morton is a master story-teller with impressive research skills. It’s a large volume—552 pages in a trade paperback—in which Nell’s mystery unravels to explore why she was left alone on a ship, what role an overgrown garden played, and in the end, what constitutes family.

Book Review: In a Sunburned Country

In a Sunburned CountryIf you’ve always wanted to go to Australia but haven’t had a chance, reading In a Sunburned Country is the next best thing. Bill Bryson presents a thorough and humorous look at a country that remains mysterious to most of us.

As Bryson goes off the beaten track to thoroughly explore this vast country–the cities, the deserts, the outback, the tropics–he takes the reader along, even when conditions aren’t that comfortable or convenient.

It’s obvious that Bryson loves Austrailia and I’ve now had the pleasure, through him, to appreciate its uniqueness. His historical and trivial facts are enlightening and enrich his story.

Although he’s not the most organized traveler, it’s fun to laugh at Bryson’s ineptitude and his ability to poke fun at himself. During his travels, he has at times a sidekick and those encounters add spice to the adventure.

I especially enjoyed vicariously visiting places so often mentioned such as the Great Barrier Reef, Alice Springs, the Gold Coast. At times I laughed out loud with his historical asides, observations, and wry humor. Bryson doesn’t strictly stick to the usual touristy cultural icons, but delves into the weird and wacky, too.

Reaching many of the remote places involves hours of travel by car. Searching for a radio station for distraction to while away the miles, Bryson finds only one station, a cricket match. His description of that match is hilarious.

If you want to learn more about Australia and have some good laughs along the way, read In a Sunburned Country. It’s a treasure.