As icy as the waters of the Channel on a November night. La Voix du Nord The narrator accuses those who judge her of hypocrisy and will only see herself as a cog in the administrative wheel of a France that will not give refuge to the worlds misery. As strong and cruel as the times we live in.
Paris Match The metaphor of drowning reminds us of the extreme indifference which allows all of us to keep our head above water whilst others drown. The drowning in question is not that of twenty-seven lives but of humanity itself.
Page des libraires "In Delecroixs gripping novel, based on a real incident in the Channel in 2021, a troubled coastguard examines her conscience. Was she really complicit in the deaths of 27 migrants at sea during her watch? Perhaps she's a monster, yet shes unwilling to shoulder all the blame. If the drowned are lost, then so are the millions of citizens who deplore the round of migrant deaths they see in the news: There is no shipwreck without spectators . . . but not one person looks like getting up to step into the water. As she struggles to distinguish personal and collective responsibility, she becomes convinced that when the sea claims a migrant boat, it claims us all."
Jeremy Harding A gripping story of an everyday monster that shines its light back on us and on our refusals to face what is happening in our world.
Gillian Slovo Delecroixs powerful and timely meditation on this disturbing rhetoric is a damning indictment of apathy in the face of calamity-Financial Times Vividly translated by Helen Stevenson, and currently on the shortlist for this years International Booker prize, Small Boat is painful, compelling and mercifully short, with a powerful undertow.- Times Literary Supplement "Migrants are people too this intricate novel shows why" - The Telegraph "A work of sickening power, its won a deserved place on the International Booker shortlist."-* Daily Mail* 'It is a work of striking empathy.' - Monocle It took the French writer Vincent Delecroix less than two years to transform the raw facts of a public scandal into this remarkable tragic fiction. A superb translation by Helen Stevenson beautifully captures the changes in register and the worldplay of the French - Literary Review "In a world ever more brutal towards those who flee war, hunger and despair, Delecroixs novel is a necessary and merciless indictment. It reminds us that the shipwreck is not theirs alone. It is ours too." - The Conversation "This book challenged me profoundly. It moved me, and stayed with me. Its not an easy read but as our politics descend into hate-mongering and point-scoring, its an essential story that needs to be told." - Dua Lipa for Service95 Book Club monthly read 'Vincent Delecroix is not just a writer but a philosopher, and it shows. His novel shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize reads less like fiction and more like an existential meditation on the value and meaning of life.' - BookBlast
