The Boat People is a burning flare of a novel, at once incendiary and illuminating. With a rare combination of precision, empathy and insight, Sharon Bala has crafted an unflinching examination of what happens when the fundamental human need for safety collides with the cold calculus of bureaucracy. In the best tradition of fearless literature, it shatters our comfortable illusions about who we really are and reveals just how asymmetrical the privilege of belonging can be. This is a brilliant debut - a story that needs to be told, told beautifully. -Omar El Akkad, author of American War

This earnest debut novel forcefully explores the issues surrounding immigration...deeply moving and nuanced, The Boat People asks what price a country is willing to pay when public safety comes at the cost of human lives. -Booklist

Timely and engrossing...This is a powerful debut. -Publishers Weekly

This wise and compassionate novel is an intimate portrait of one of the great humanitarian crises of our time. Its power lies in its breadth, for it examines not just those who come to our country seeking refuge, but also those who determine their fate. As such it implicates us all in the ongoing crisis. -Shyam Selvadurai, author of The Hungry Ghosts and Funny Boy

Brisk, bracing and astonishingly prescient...Bala is ahead by a century in the cricket store of politically powerful fiction. -Atlantic Books Today