Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize
In November 2021, an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants from France to the United Kingdom capsized in the Channel causing the death of 27 people on board. Despite receiving numerous calls for help, the French authorities wrongly told the migrants they were in British waters and had to call the British authorities for help. By the time rescue vessels arrived on the scene, all but two of the migrants had died.
The narrator of Delecroix’s fictional account of the events is the woman who took the calls. Accused of failing in her duty, she refuses to be held more responsible than others for this disaster. Why should she be more responsible than the sea, than the war, than the crises behind these tragedies?
“Vividly translated by Helen Stevenson, and currently on the shortlist for this year’s International Booker prize, Small Boat is painful, compelling and mercifully short, with a powerful undertow.” TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
“A vital and powerful novel that speaks to the core of our humanity. A parable for our time.” AMANDA SMYTH
“Shattering and unflinching. This is the most important novel you will read this year.” LUCY ROSE
