Saroo Brierley's Incredible Journey Home: A Memoir of Hope and Resilience

Amazon Customer: An amazing story!

Canada on Apr 15, 2023

sarmila unni: A true inspiring life story,simpler language is used....just loved reading it

India on Feb 25, 2023

Amazon Customer: It was a beutiful emotional to go through the story of reunion of a lost son with his mom.

India on Jun 30, 2022

lawyeraau: Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. This story is a harrowing but ultimately uplifting one. It is a story of loss and of reunion. It is a story that will tug at the heartstrings of its readers.

In a very poor, remote, rural village in mid 1980s India, a small five year uneducated and illiterate old boy lives with mother, his two older brothers, and younger sister. They lead a hard scrabble existence. While out with his oldest brother and waiting for him at a local train station, he boards a train and falls asleep.

When he wakes up, he finds himself far away from home in the dangerous and teeming city of Calcutta. He miraculously manages to survive for about 6 weeks on his own, til he is finally taken into custody. When he is unable to articulate the actual name of his village or the name of the station where he boarded the train, it is essentially game over.

He is put up of for adoption and adopted by a well to do Australian couple from Tasmania. He has a relatively happy and loving home life with his adoptive family. Still, he has memories of his Indian family and wonders what ever happened to them. It is not til twenty five years transpire that he...

United States on Dec 15, 2021

Agnesa: Really an unputdownable story of a small, illiterate boy accidentally abandoned on a train which took him to the other side of the Indian sub-continent and ultimately to adoption in Australia. You wouldn't read about it! yet here it is - what a marvellous true story of truly remarkable synchronicities which one might be forgiven in calling a miracle. The generosity of spirit shown by the couple who adopted such an unknown waif really shows the very best of human nature, and their support in helping their now adult son in tracking down his original village is hugely heartwarming. Restored my failing faith in humanity!

United Kingdom on Aug 15, 2021

Aydin: Terrifying, sad, heartwarming, inspirational. These are words that describe the amazing story of Saroo Brierley. Saroo is an Indian born Australian businessman who was separated from his family at the age of five. Saroo was born in a small suburb of Khandwa, India called Ganesh Talai, which was an important place for him all his life including when he would initiate the long and tiresome search for his mother. A memoir of this account of his experiences was published in 2013 and called A Long Way Home.
I remember hearing about this story a few years ago, when it broke on national television. It was a headline stating that a man had found his mother after 25 long years of separation. I had already known the basic frame of the story, so when I read the book it was very enjoyable getting details about what I had already known. Although this story wasn’t written by Saroo himself, ghost writer Larry Buttrose did an exceptional job at capturing the emotion and details of the journey. This story is one about the journey of a little boy who’s lost his family and doesn’t know how to get back to them.
Saroo Brierley was only five years old when he had to endure the hardest...

United States on Dec 18, 2017

Glynn Young: Sheru was a five-year-old boy helping his family live by their wits in a small town in north central India. His father was a Muslim, and had left the family to marry a second wife. His mother was a Hindu, struggling to raise three boys and a girl. Sheru was the youngest of the three boys. He couldn’t quite pronounce his name correctly and so called himself “Saroo.” He had one significant responsibility, other than begging for food and sometimes stealing it: taking care of his little sister while his mother worked carting rocks for a construction crew. His mother would often be gone for three or four days at a time for her job.

His older brothers worked, begged, and sometimes stole as well. In search of work, they would often sneak aboard trains to travel to the next town or two down the line. One day, Saroo’s oldest brother took Saroo with him. The little boy was thrilled to go along. When they arrived, his brother tells Saroo to wait at the train station until he returns. He falls asleep on a bench. When he awakens, the station is deserted, and there is no sign of his brother. A train arrives, and the little boy gets in and looks for his brother. He discovers the...

United States on Oct 18, 2016

dvc rao: What an incredible true story! I shall simply introduce the characters of the book and urge you to read this excellent book.
Saroo is the hero of the biography. His mother Kamla worked as construction laborer. His elder brothers Guddu and Kallu were beggars. They travelled in trains that stopped in a nearby station, swept the compartments and collected change and leftover food from passengers. Saroo being a five year old kid stayed at home and looked after his toddler sister Shekila.
One day Saroo accompanied his brother Guddu to the railway station. Unknowingly he boarded a train and fell asleep. He woke up next day and found himself at Howrah Station.
Saroo wandered on the platforms and nearby Hooghly river bank for a week as a lost kid with neither shelter nor food.
There are three unnamed characters that helped Saroo in Howrah. One saved him from drowning in the Hooghly River another took him to a police station. The station house officer admitted him in Liluah juvenile home.
Saroj Sood runs an orphanage Nava Jeevan. She is also in charge of the Indian Society for sponsorship and Adoption (ISSA)
John and Sue Brierley are the Australian couple who adopted...

India on Oct 21, 2014