A review by escape_through_pages
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The Year of the Runaways tells the story of the first year in England of three young Indian illegal immigrants. 

Randeep, Avtar and Tochi are brought together by the opportunity of work in Sheffield, housed together with more than 10 other men all fighting for an existence and meagre job opportunities. Randeep has a visa-wife, Avtar has the guise of a student visa and Tochi was smuggled in to the country. 

Their lives are hard, perilous and soul-destroying. But they are desperate to either escape their lives in India, or to support their families and so they plough on, living and working in circumstances most of us would find intolerable - they have taken huge risks, for this? 

And we find out why. Sahota takes us into the heartbreaking individual stories of the three; what they left behind, what traumas they lived through. My narrow window of experience was expanded. Here we are fighting for more than a 1% pay increase (which I’m not saying we shouldn’t be doing) but which pales into insignificance against the employer exploitation of immigrants described here. 

It would be remiss of me not to mention the female character Narinder, British born of Indian descent. She is devout but is brought to question her faith and what it means to do good. She agrees to be Randeep’s visa wife, running away from her own life for a year. Her story is of a loss of innocence. 

The prose throughout this is quite workman-like, if it were a cup of tea it would be a builder’s brew, it’s not impressive but it is infinitely drinkable. 

Goodreads likens this book to Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, which is my second favourite book of all time. Whilst AFB is in no danger of being toppled by this book, I’m not offended by the comparison. I very much enjoyed this read, it’s less repetitively brutal than AFB, so some may find it preferable. It isn’t all doom and gloom either, there is hope and the determination of human beings to survive adversity runs through the novel. 

Recommend.