

The second half of the book explores his adoption to Australia, his accomplishments and most importantly how he goes on to find his way back home to India. We learn of his experiences sleeping on the streets, how he was saved (twice) by a homeless man and how he was taken in by an orphanage.

The first half of the book focuses on the struggles Saroo faced as a young boy lost in India. The memoir tells the story of how a five-year-old Saroo boarded a train and got lost in India, and what has happened to him in the twenty-five years since this train journey. And I looked at the second one and I thought, "There's something about you" - and it took me a few seconds but I decrypted what she used to looked like.Lion: A Long Way Home is the true story of Saroo Brierley. And by the time the fourth person had come, they said, "Just stay here for a sec," and within 10 minutes they came back around and they said, "Now I'm going to take you to your mother."Īnd I couldn't believe it, because when I went around the corner, which was only 10, 15 meters around the corner, there three ladies standing in front of an entrance to a house. That went on quite a few times with other people that kept wanting to know this person that's a foreigner that's coming to a town that's never seen a foreigner. Another person comes in and I sort of spill my mantra to them as well. And I said to her, my name is Saroo and these are my family members' names. But lucky for me this lady came out of a doorway holding a baby, and she said, "Can I help you?". Putnam's SonsĪnd I just thought the worst, I thought perhaps everyone's gone, my whole family's died, they've passed away. Saroo Brierley was born in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India, and currently lives in Hobart, Tasmania. He remembered landmarks, but since he didn't know his town's name, finding a small neighborhood in a vast country proved to be impossible.


There, he was adopted by an Australian family and flown to Tasmania.Īs he recounts in his new book, A Long Way Home, Brierley couldn't help but wonder about his hometown back in India. He lived on the streets, then in a juvenile home and, finally, in an orphanage. He was more than a thousand miles from his home, in a city where he did not speak the language. That train took him across the country to Kolkata (then called Calcutta), where he spent five harrowing months. "It was just an impulse decision," Brierley says, "that, in fact, changed my destiny for life." Finding himself alone, the 4-year-old decided his brother might be on the train he saw in front of him - so he hopped on. He took a nap in the station, and when he woke up, he couldn't see his brother. One day, Brierley tagged along to the next city down the rail line. Brierley's older brothers would hop trains to nearby towns to search for scraps to eat. His mother was raising four children on her own, and they were constantly hungry. At 4 years old, he couldn't read: He didn't even know the name of his hometown. More than 25 years ago, Saroo Brierley was one of many poor children in rural India. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title A Long Way Home Author Saroo Brierley
