Boat People, The

A cargo ship arrives in Vancouver with Tamil migrants who are detained, arrested, and their families split as men are held separately from women. The migrants suffer post-traumatic stress and depression, resulting in many suicides, and face distrust and racism from government lawyers and adjudicators. The novel is told from three perspectives: an adjudicator whose family was interned in WWII, a law student who is first generation Tamil Canadian, and a Tamil migrant who lost his country, his wife, his friends, and his identity due to war. Suitable as a class or lit circle novel, it deals with systemic oppression and racism. Based on the MV Sun Sea that brought Tamils in B.C. in 2010.