Selected reviews

"Probing the dramas surrounding deportation hearings, this timely novel follows the intersection of three lives after a cargo ship arrives in Canada, carrying Tamil refugees fleeing war in Sri Lanka." - The New Yorker

"The Boat People is a book perfect for our times, essential reading to bring context to questions which we are, perhaps, more inclined to ignore." - Robert Wiersema in The Toronto Star

"Bala has vividly conjured worlds, both on Canadian soil and back in Sri Lanka... What we also get from a novel like this is a new way of seeing" - Marissa Stapley in The Globe & Mail

"Already on several bestseller lists in Canada, Bala’s fiction has been praised for its timely appeal and its ability to capture this journey through the perspective of refugees.” - The Economist's 1843 Magazine

"Cinematic details...transport us to a tension-rich drama. The Boat People reminds us of the fragile nature of truth." - Mari Carlson in BookPage

"Bala is brisk, bracing and astonishingly prescient... ahead by a century in the cricket score of politically powerful contemporary fiction." - US Dhuga in Atlantic Books Today.

"A superb political novel...a very well-crafted story likely to be read for a long time." - Crawford Kilian in The Tyee (Warning: MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS)

"Bala’s strength is in showing the human side of everyone involved. Many details of the situation... might have been dull and bureaucratic if Bala’s narrative were not so clear and engaging." - Dave Williamson, Winnipeg Free Press

"A sharp examination of the global refugee crisis from both human and bureaucratic perspectives." - Toronto Life

"Timely and engrossing ...this is a powerful debut." - Publishers Weekly

"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.