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. First published in hardcover in 2014 by G.P. 'The miraculous and triumphant story of a young man who rediscovers not only his childhood life and home.but an identity long-since left behind'. That train took him across the country to Kolkata (then called Calcutta), where he spent five harrowing months. 273 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 22 cm. '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. A Long Way Home A moving and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds, celebrating the importance of never letting go of. 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.

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