In 2009, a boat arrives in Canadian waters. On board, are 500 passengers, Tamils fleeing war and persecution in Sri Lanka. Among these passengers is Mahindan, a car mechanic, and his six-year-old son, Sellian. They have come seeking refugee status but their hope for a safe refuge will not be easy. They soon find themselves facing a long and arduous fight to stay. The passengers are placed in detention camps and separated by gender. Children are placed with the women so Sellian is first placed with one of the women whom he hardly knows and is later placed in foster care with a Canadian couple who are well-meaning and kind but who know little of the Tamil culture and nothing of the language.

Mahinder's story is divided between his detention as he faces seemingly endless tribunals on his status and flashbacks to the horrors of life in Sri Lanka. Interwoven into the present timeline are two other major characters:

Priya - a second-generation Tamil Canadian and articling law student who wishes to enter corporate law but finds herself pressed into immigration law helping to represent several of the Tamils. Although, at first unhappy about this, she finds herself more and more in sympathy with the refugees and angry at the government's insistence on keeping many of the Tamils confined with the argument that terrorists may be trying to slip into the country under the guise of asylum-seekers. Priya's parents had told her little of their life in Sri Lanka and had chosen not to have her learn Tamil so that she can more easily assimilate into Canadian culture

Grace - a third generation Japanese-Canadian and one of the adjudicators hearing the cases of many of the Tamils including Mahinder. Graces's mother, who is showing signs of Altzheimer's, is obsessed with obtaining reparations from the Canadian government for the property that was confiscated from the family during their internment during WWII and never returned. She has enlisted Grace's two teen-aged daughters in the fight. Grace is determined to remain objective as she listens to the Tamils' stories but, as the government lays out what they claim proves that many of these asylum seekers, including Mahinder, at the very least aided the rebel groups, she begins to wonder what she would have done in their place to protect her family.

The Boat People, the debut novel by author Sharon Bala, is a beautifully written story. It is based on a true event, the arrival in 2010 of a barely sea-worthy boat containing almost 500 Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum, an event that divided the nation and raised questions about racism in Canada - even before the boat reached land, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper began a narrative about the possibility of terrorists hidden among the group and the need for caution in dealing with these refugees in the name of security. In her novel, Bala moves the story away from the narrative of refugees as some nebulous and potentially dangerous unknown and makes the reader see them as individuals with backstories that explain why they have risked everything to make this dangerous trip, something that we rarely see examined in news stories and she asks the reader to, like Grace, ponder what they would do to protect their loved ones in the same situation.

Not surprisingly, The Boat People won several awards in Canada and was a finalist for Canada Reads. It is, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, amazing even more so perhaps because it is a debut novel and because Bala takes what has become, unfortunately, a very controversial subject and moves it from the general and too often ideological and makes it personal - we get to know these people, especially Mahinder, what he was forced to do to survive, to build a safe and secure life for his son. The ending is ambiguous but, given the nature of the story, this is fitting. Of all the books that I have read this year, this one will stay with me the longest and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

A sensitively written book of the challenges facing refugees, specifically from Sri Lanka, and their adjustments to life in Canada. Also the struggle of the officials/lawyers who ultimately determine who can stay. An excellent read.

I loved that this was based on a true story; in that way, it reminded me of Small Great Things. It took a tough, relevant topic in today's society and humanized it. The viewpoints were compelling and it helped make it relatable.