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'When Saroo Brierley used Google Earth to find his long-lost home town half a world away, he made global headlines.
'Saroo had become lost on a train in India at the age of five. Not knowing the name of his family or where he was from, he survived for weeks on the streets of Kolkata, before being taken into an orphanage and adopted by a couple in Australia.
'Despite being happy in his new family, Saroo always wondered about his origins. He spent hours staring at the map of India on his bedroom wall. When he was a young man the advent of Google Earth led him to pore over satellite images of the country for landmarks he recognised. And one day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for.
'Then he set off on a journey to find his mother.
'A Long Way Home is a moving and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit – hope.' (Publisher's blurb)
Adaptations
-
form
y
Lion
( dir. Garth Davis
)
Australia
:
Screen Australia
See Saw Films
Sunstar Entertainment
The Weinstein Company
,
2016
8160821
2016
single work
film/TV
'A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 later, he sets out to find his lost family.' (Production summary)
Teaching Resources
This work has teaching resources.
Notes
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Dedication: For Guddu
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Sound recording.
- Sound recording (French)
Related Works
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y
Lioness
Lioness : The Extraordinary Untold Story of Sue Brierley, Mother of Saroo, the Boy Known as Lion
Melbourne
:
Viking
,
2020
19694131
2020
single work
autobiography
''My most desperate wish while Saroo was growing up was to send through the heavens a message—"Your boy is fine, I'm looking after him. He's beautiful." That was my big wish.'
'Saroo Brierley's journey home to a small village in India by scrolling through countless satellite images on Google Earth became an internationally bestselling book and inspired the major motion picture LION. But the untold story of how his adoptive mother, Sue, came into his life half a world away in Tasmania is every bit as riveting and unlikely. For Sue herself had a traumatic childhood. She was the daughter of European refugees, and her father was a violent alcoholic whose business gambles left her family destitute.
'When Sue married she was determined to break the cycle of despair. She chose not to have biological children and to adopt a child in need. Sue and her husband, John, filled their home with love and compassion, and opened their hearts to two very special little boys, Saroo and Mantosh.
'Twenty-five years later, the discovery that Saroo's mother was actually still alive in a remote town in India turned his world upside down — as it did for Sue. The story of how Sue met Kamla and united over their shared love for Saroo is both moving and inspiring.
'In this uplifting and deeply personal book Sue explores what it means to be a mother, how families are formed in many ways, and how love and perseverance can, ultimately, bring us all together.' (Publication summary)
Works about this Work
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Google Earth and Google Babies : Nation, Transnation and the Australian Reproscape
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Transnational Spaces : India and Australia 2021; (p. 105-132)'If the transnational is often mapped at a macro scale, it also occurs at many micro levels, some of which centre on the human body. This chapter surveys a range of print and visual media to see how the movements of genetic material are represented as they occur within and across national spaces, and how transnational surrogacy contracts, third-party provision of gametes and adoption reconfigure the family. Key genres dealing with the ‘reproscape’ are outlined: documentaries, memoirs, fiction, digital media, television dramas and film. The focus is on Australia and two central examples involve Australian-Indian exchanges: a memoir of commissioning surrogacy by Barry du Bois and the memoir of adoption by Saroo Brierly, which was made internationally famous as the film Lion.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
-
Lifelong Learning
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , October vol. 97 no. 4 2018; (p. 9-10)'Kelsey Oldham investigates the role played by younger readers editions in the growth of children's nonfiction.'
-
Hollywood Biopic 'Surreal' for Saroo Brierley, the Aussie Subject of Golden Globe-nominated Film Lion
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , January 2017;'Tasmanian Saroo Brierley has not decided whether he will watch this year's Golden Globes despite a film about his true-life story being nominated for four awards.
Lion is based on his incredible journey to find his birth mother and family in India.'
-
A Long Way Home: Ghostwriter Larry Buttrose on Telling Saroo Brierley's Story behind the Film Lion
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , February 2017;'From the moment Larry Buttrose heard the story about Saroo Brierley, he knew what a remarkable one it was.
A five-year-old boy loses his family at an Indian train station, spends 32 hours on a train, three weeks alone on the streets of Kolkata, then gets placed in an orphanage where an Australian family adopts him and takes him to Hobart.'
(Introduction)
-
Lion Is a Well-made Melodrama with a Rather Disturbing Message
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 9 January 2016; 'Lion is a well-made film starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman and David Wenham. An Australian production written by Luke Davies (Candy) and adapted from Saroo Brierly’s memoir A Long Way Home (2013), it follows the remarkable true story of an Indian boy who, lost in Calcutta, is adopted by an Australian couple and grows up in Tasmania. 25 years later, he uses Google Earth to locate his home village and is reunited with his birth mother.'
-
[Review] A Long Way Home
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 31 August 2013; (p. 23)
— Review of A Long Way Home 2013 single work autobiography -
Australia Remains the Perfect Place to Make Films About the End of the World
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 21 May 2014; The Sydney Morning Herald , 21 May 2014; -
Saroo on Set to See Story Take Shape
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Mercury , 31 January 2015; (p. 10) 'Hobart's Saroo Brierley is watching his life play out on camera in front of his eyes...' -
Nicole Sneaks Back For a Shoot
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 13 May 2015; (p. 26) -
Lion Is a Well-made Melodrama with a Rather Disturbing Message
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 9 January 2016; 'Lion is a well-made film starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman and David Wenham. An Australian production written by Luke Davies (Candy) and adapted from Saroo Brierly’s memoir A Long Way Home (2013), it follows the remarkable true story of an Indian boy who, lost in Calcutta, is adopted by an Australian couple and grows up in Tasmania. 25 years later, he uses Google Earth to locate his home village and is reunited with his birth mother.' -
A Long Way Home: Ghostwriter Larry Buttrose on Telling Saroo Brierley's Story behind the Film Lion
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , February 2017;'From the moment Larry Buttrose heard the story about Saroo Brierley, he knew what a remarkable one it was.
A five-year-old boy loses his family at an Indian train station, spends 32 hours on a train, three weeks alone on the streets of Kolkata, then gets placed in an orphanage where an Australian family adopts him and takes him to Hobart.'
(Introduction)
Awards
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cIndia,cSouth Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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cAustralia,c
