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No Place Like Home
From bestselling author and award-winning journalist Caroline Overington comes another thought-provoking and heart-rending story, that reaches from the heart of Bondi to a small village in Tanzania.
Shortly after 9.30 in the morning, a young man walks into Surf City, Bondi's newest shopping complex. He's wearing a dark grey hoodie and a bomb around his neck. Just a few minutes later he is locked in a shop on the upper floor. And trapped with him are four innocent bystanders.
For police chaplain Paul Doherty, called to the scene by Senior Sergeant Boehm, it's a story that will end as tragically as it began. For this is clearly no ordinary siege. The boy, known as Ali Khan, seems as frightened as his hostages and has yet to utter a single word.
The seconds tick by for the five in the shop: Mitchell, the talented schoolboy; Mouse, the shop assistant; Kimmi, the nail-bar technician; and Roger Callaghan, the real estate agent whose reason for being in Bondi that day is far from innocent.
And of course there's Ali Khan. Is he the embodiment of evil, as the villagers in his Tanzanian birthplace believe? Or just an innocent boy, betrayed at every turn, who just wants a place to call home?
Shortly after 9.30 in the morning, a young man walks into Surf City, Bondi's newest shopping complex. He's wearing a dark grey hoodie and a bomb around his neck. Just a few minutes later he is locked in a shop on the upper floor. And trapped with him are four innocent bystanders.
For police chaplain Paul Doherty, called to the scene by Senior Sergeant Boehm, it's a story that will end as tragically as it began. For this is clearly no ordinary siege. The boy, known as Ali Khan, seems as frightened as his hostages and has yet to utter a single word.
The seconds tick by for the five in the shop: Mitchell, the talented schoolboy; Mouse, the shop assistant; Kimmi, the nail-bar technician; and Roger Callaghan, the real estate agent whose reason for being in Bondi that day is far from innocent.
And of course there's Ali Khan. Is he the embodiment of evil, as the villagers in his Tanzanian birthplace believe? Or just an innocent boy, betrayed at every turn, who just wants a place to call home?
8 pages, Audiobook
First published October 1, 2013
25 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Overington
30 books574 followersCaroline Overington is an Australian author and journalist.
She has worked for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and is is currently a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine.
Caroline is a two-time winner of the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism. She won her first Walkley for a series of articles about a literary fraud, and her second for a series about the AWB oil for food scandal.
She is also a winner of the Sir Keith Murdoch prize for excellence in Journalism; and of the Blake Dawson Prize.
Caroline has published five books. Her first, Only in New York, was about working as a foreign correspondent in Manhattan.
Her second, Kickback, was about the UN oil for food scandal. It won the Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature.
Her first novel, Ghost Child, is about a child murdered by his parents.
Her second, I Came To Say Goodbye, takes the form of a letter from a grandfather to a Supreme Court judge. It was shortlisted for both the Fiction Book of the Year, and overall Book of the Year, in the 2011 Australian Book Industry Awards.
Her latest novel, published in October 2011, is called Matilda is Missing. It is set in the Family Court, and it is about a couple's war over custody of their two year old daughter, Matilda.
Caroline's books are proudly published by Random House Australia.
Caroline is a mother of delightful, 11-year-old twins. She lives with her kids, her husband, a blue dog, and a lizard, in Bondi.
She has worked for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and is is currently a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine.
Caroline is a two-time winner of the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism. She won her first Walkley for a series of articles about a literary fraud, and her second for a series about the AWB oil for food scandal.
She is also a winner of the Sir Keith Murdoch prize for excellence in Journalism; and of the Blake Dawson Prize.
Caroline has published five books. Her first, Only in New York, was about working as a foreign correspondent in Manhattan.
Her second, Kickback, was about the UN oil for food scandal. It won the Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature.
Her first novel, Ghost Child, is about a child murdered by his parents.
Her second, I Came To Say Goodbye, takes the form of a letter from a grandfather to a Supreme Court judge. It was shortlisted for both the Fiction Book of the Year, and overall Book of the Year, in the 2011 Australian Book Industry Awards.
Her latest novel, published in October 2011, is called Matilda is Missing. It is set in the Family Court, and it is about a couple's war over custody of their two year old daughter, Matilda.
Caroline's books are proudly published by Random House Australia.
Caroline is a mother of delightful, 11-year-old twins. She lives with her kids, her husband, a blue dog, and a lizard, in Bondi.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
May 17, 2023
3.5 rating
Shortly after 9.30 in the morning, a young man walks into Surf City's newest shopping complex. He's wearing a dark grey hoodie and a bomb around his neck. Just a few minutes later, he is locked in a lingerie shop on the upper floor. Trapped with him are four innocent bystanders.
Police chaplain Paul Doherty is called to mitigate the situation in the hopes that the boy will let everyone out before blowing them up. The boy, known as Ali Khan, seems as frightened as his hostages and doesn't appear to understand the English language.
The seconds tick by for the five in the shop. Does the priest have what it takes to save these lives, quite literally?
----‐----------------
This is my least favorite Caroline Overington novel thus far. It sort of dragged on in places, and I felt my mind wondering to other things. It's not a horrible read, just okay. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, which is something I like to feel when I'm on a book journey.😊
Shortly after 9.30 in the morning, a young man walks into Surf City's newest shopping complex. He's wearing a dark grey hoodie and a bomb around his neck. Just a few minutes later, he is locked in a lingerie shop on the upper floor. Trapped with him are four innocent bystanders.
Police chaplain Paul Doherty is called to mitigate the situation in the hopes that the boy will let everyone out before blowing them up. The boy, known as Ali Khan, seems as frightened as his hostages and doesn't appear to understand the English language.
The seconds tick by for the five in the shop. Does the priest have what it takes to save these lives, quite literally?
----‐----------------
This is my least favorite Caroline Overington novel thus far. It sort of dragged on in places, and I felt my mind wondering to other things. It's not a horrible read, just okay. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, which is something I like to feel when I'm on a book journey.😊
November 9, 2013
Boy enters upscale shopping centre in Bondi. Boy is 'weird-looking', is wearing a hoodie and jeans, rides the escalators to the top floor and starts to run. Boy ends up locked in a store with four other people. Boy has a bomb strapped to his chest. Enter Father Paul Doherty, police chaplain.
So begins No Place Like Home, the fifth novel from Caroline Overington. Paul Doherty is her narrator for this tale, about 'Ali Khan', resettled in Australia after suffering persecution in his native Tanzania. Ali Khan is not his real name (it is Nduwimana, but he is also called ' Nudie' by the care worker who sponsored his resettlement), and it can be argued that life in Australia has not been much of an improvement for him - victim of misunderstanding, miscommunication and misrepresentation. Paul recounts the story of the siege some months after it occurs, and is able to add back story and detail to the lives of Nudie, the hostages and the other people whose lives were impacted by the events of that day.
Paul Doherty is a conflicted narrator. He feels unqualified to give the advice so often asked of him, and does not believe his relationship with God gives his prayers any ranking over the prayers of others. He counsels without any formal training, and with a degree of judgement unexpected in the clergy. This impression may be magnified by Paul's first-person narration, which gives the reader access to his personal thoughts and opinions, but it felt at times that Paul was permitted to say or repeat opinions and judgements that would be considered offensive coming from anyone else (e.g. the girls in the nail salon "all looked the same"; and "Many still had Muslim refugees in mind. Let's not muck around and pretend that doesn't make people nervous."). I found Paul offensive on a semi-regular basis throughout his tale.
While reading this book it was not clear what the author's intentions were. To my mind there were a number of options. It was to be a:
- Comment on the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia (though Nudie's entry was legal and he is an Australian citizen);
- Comment on the prejudice arising from assumptions made based on appearance (Nudie, the Asian nail artist, Paul choosing whether or not to identify himself with his collar, private school uniforms);
- Thriller / crime page-turner; and
- Comment on racism and the insular nature of the Australian population.
While I am in no way suggesting that every novel needs a moral (heaven forbid!), I was confused when reading this. Were the racial stereotypes a blatant appeal to the lowest-common-denominator reader, 'dumbed-down' so the pages would keep turning, or was it intended to be a nails-down-the-blackboard screech that alerted the reader to the racism and judgement in our own society. For me it was a screech, and the very possibility that it could be anything else was concerning.
Having been given the opportunity to speak with Caroline as part of a Google+ Hangout hosted by The Reading Room (thank you TRR!), I was able to have that question addressed, at least in part. Caroline noted that the character of Paul is based on someone she knows - a priest who felt unqualified to give advice on life events and situations he had no experience of. And I took from this answer that No Place Like Home is, at least in part, addressing the issue of how appearances can be deceiving and how we can be far too quick to judge. From that, I must admit I was more satisfied with the story and a little more forgiving of Paul.
So begins No Place Like Home, the fifth novel from Caroline Overington. Paul Doherty is her narrator for this tale, about 'Ali Khan', resettled in Australia after suffering persecution in his native Tanzania. Ali Khan is not his real name (it is Nduwimana, but he is also called ' Nudie' by the care worker who sponsored his resettlement), and it can be argued that life in Australia has not been much of an improvement for him - victim of misunderstanding, miscommunication and misrepresentation. Paul recounts the story of the siege some months after it occurs, and is able to add back story and detail to the lives of Nudie, the hostages and the other people whose lives were impacted by the events of that day.
Paul Doherty is a conflicted narrator. He feels unqualified to give the advice so often asked of him, and does not believe his relationship with God gives his prayers any ranking over the prayers of others. He counsels without any formal training, and with a degree of judgement unexpected in the clergy. This impression may be magnified by Paul's first-person narration, which gives the reader access to his personal thoughts and opinions, but it felt at times that Paul was permitted to say or repeat opinions and judgements that would be considered offensive coming from anyone else (e.g. the girls in the nail salon "all looked the same"; and "Many still had Muslim refugees in mind. Let's not muck around and pretend that doesn't make people nervous."). I found Paul offensive on a semi-regular basis throughout his tale.
While reading this book it was not clear what the author's intentions were. To my mind there were a number of options. It was to be a:
- Comment on the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia (though Nudie's entry was legal and he is an Australian citizen);
- Comment on the prejudice arising from assumptions made based on appearance (Nudie, the Asian nail artist, Paul choosing whether or not to identify himself with his collar, private school uniforms);
- Thriller / crime page-turner; and
- Comment on racism and the insular nature of the Australian population.
While I am in no way suggesting that every novel needs a moral (heaven forbid!), I was confused when reading this. Were the racial stereotypes a blatant appeal to the lowest-common-denominator reader, 'dumbed-down' so the pages would keep turning, or was it intended to be a nails-down-the-blackboard screech that alerted the reader to the racism and judgement in our own society. For me it was a screech, and the very possibility that it could be anything else was concerning.
Having been given the opportunity to speak with Caroline as part of a Google+ Hangout hosted by The Reading Room (thank you TRR!), I was able to have that question addressed, at least in part. Caroline noted that the character of Paul is based on someone she knows - a priest who felt unqualified to give advice on life events and situations he had no experience of. And I took from this answer that No Place Like Home is, at least in part, addressing the issue of how appearances can be deceiving and how we can be far too quick to judge. From that, I must admit I was more satisfied with the story and a little more forgiving of Paul.
October 8, 2013
No Place Like Home is the fifth novel by award winning Australian journalist Caroline Overington. On an ordinary weekday morning, a young man walks into a shopping centre in the heart of Bondi. No one takes much notice of him, until he begins to run. Months later, former priest and police chaplain, Paul Doherty reflects on the events of that day and all that he has learned since.
The compelling narrative reveals the story of Ali Khan and how he came to be locked in a lingerie store with a bomb chained around his neck. Overington skilfully weaves the stories of those whose lives were touched by Ali Khan into the narrative revealing tales of courage, kindness, cowardice and selfishness, including the aid worker who took pity on the young Tanzanian shunned and mistreated in a refugee camp and Ali's Australian 'hostess' who favoured righteous cause over care. But it is the lives of the four people that shared three hours in the store that Paul unravels more completely, ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary event.
Caroline Overington's fiction often reflects topical socio-political issues and No Place Like Home is a novel with a strong emphasis on the status of refugee and asylum seekers in Australia. The failure of successive governments to find a balance between ensuring Australia's national security and the humane processing of 'boat' people has created an untenable situation which contributes to the circumstances of the siege and Ali Khan's fate.
Tragedy seems inevitable but how the events of that day play out is something few will expect and where the responsibility lies will shock you.
No Place Like Home is a poignant and gripping story crafted with skill and compassion. This is a novel that will challenge your prejudice, your knowledge and perhaps even your faith.
September 4, 2013
When police chaplain Paul Doherty is called to the scene of a “siege” at Bondi Beach’s most prestigious shopping mall, he is expecting the worst. A young man has apparently entered the building earlier that morning with an explosive device strapped around his body, and is now holed up with four hostages in a lingerie shop on the second floor, whilst police are frantically evacuating the building and trying to establish the perpetrator’s identity and motives. As the story unfolds, things are not as straightforward as they initially seemed – who really is the mysterious Ali Khan, and what does he want? Why does he look as frightened as his “hostages”, and resist all efforts by police to make contact?
As the rest of the novel unfolds through Paul’s interviews with each of the hostages after the incident, the true story behind the siege is slowly uncovered – a story of such unspeakable suffering and despair that it will challenge even Paul’s strongest beliefs.
After having read a spate of highly praised but ultimately disappointing novels recently, No Place Like Home was like a breath of fresh air - it did not take long to draw me into the storyline and keep me turning the pages! Overington’s journalist background becomes obvious in her character development and her intimate knowledge of a hot topic which continues to steal the headlines in Australian news today – the issue of “boat people”, illegal immigrants and refugees alike, and their fates in detention centres and being subject to different and often highly contested political strategies.
I thought that Overington’s choice of protagonist was extremely clever. Making Paul a chaplain, and a man whose fate compels him to regard each person without prejudice and malice, allowed the author to explore this highly controversial topic from various viewpoints. Whilst Overington’s empathy for asylum seekers is evident, she is not afraid to uncover several different aspects of the issue, highlighting the inherent problems of various “solutions”, which ultimately lead to Ali Khan’s tragic fate. I loved the way each character’s background story forms a thread in the novel, converging in the “coincidence” of each of the innocent bystanders being present in the lingerie shop at the same time. As their motives and actions are slowly unveiled, the reader is challenged to ponder where the real evil lies, and whose actions are responsible for the final tragic outcome. Slowly, page by page, the focus shifts from the initially perceived evil to a completely unexpected villain.
Overington’s latest novel offers one of the more original plots I have read in a while. Her writing is casual and refreshing, almost like a laid-back yarn around the campfire, its ease belying the controversial topics it exposes so effortlessly. Once I picked up the book, I did not want to put it down. And whilst the overall feeling it leaves behind is one of sadness, its topic has stayed with me and comes to mind whenever the issue of boat people is being raised – at this time, so close to the election, these occasions are too numerous to count. This reason alone compels me to recommend Overington’s novel to everyone who has set ideas and opinions about the topic – if only to give food for thought and invite a fresh perspective in the face of a fierce media campaign.
In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed Overington’s latest novel and will make sure to look up some of her previous work.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please note that the final published copy may vary from the one I reviewed.
As the rest of the novel unfolds through Paul’s interviews with each of the hostages after the incident, the true story behind the siege is slowly uncovered – a story of such unspeakable suffering and despair that it will challenge even Paul’s strongest beliefs.
After having read a spate of highly praised but ultimately disappointing novels recently, No Place Like Home was like a breath of fresh air - it did not take long to draw me into the storyline and keep me turning the pages! Overington’s journalist background becomes obvious in her character development and her intimate knowledge of a hot topic which continues to steal the headlines in Australian news today – the issue of “boat people”, illegal immigrants and refugees alike, and their fates in detention centres and being subject to different and often highly contested political strategies.
I thought that Overington’s choice of protagonist was extremely clever. Making Paul a chaplain, and a man whose fate compels him to regard each person without prejudice and malice, allowed the author to explore this highly controversial topic from various viewpoints. Whilst Overington’s empathy for asylum seekers is evident, she is not afraid to uncover several different aspects of the issue, highlighting the inherent problems of various “solutions”, which ultimately lead to Ali Khan’s tragic fate. I loved the way each character’s background story forms a thread in the novel, converging in the “coincidence” of each of the innocent bystanders being present in the lingerie shop at the same time. As their motives and actions are slowly unveiled, the reader is challenged to ponder where the real evil lies, and whose actions are responsible for the final tragic outcome. Slowly, page by page, the focus shifts from the initially perceived evil to a completely unexpected villain.
Overington’s latest novel offers one of the more original plots I have read in a while. Her writing is casual and refreshing, almost like a laid-back yarn around the campfire, its ease belying the controversial topics it exposes so effortlessly. Once I picked up the book, I did not want to put it down. And whilst the overall feeling it leaves behind is one of sadness, its topic has stayed with me and comes to mind whenever the issue of boat people is being raised – at this time, so close to the election, these occasions are too numerous to count. This reason alone compels me to recommend Overington’s novel to everyone who has set ideas and opinions about the topic – if only to give food for thought and invite a fresh perspective in the face of a fierce media campaign.
In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed Overington’s latest novel and will make sure to look up some of her previous work.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please note that the final published copy may vary from the one I reviewed.
January 11, 2014
“No Place Like Home” by Caroline Overington (read January 2014)
This is barely a novel. Many chapters read like the extended articles you get in weekend newspapers, held together with a bit of a story. I can't help but feel it would have been better if published as non-fiction with “names changed”. The writing itself was excellent and covered several shameful aspects of today's Australia: the treatment of asylum seekers, the treatment of refugees, the abuse of recent immigrants (legal or illegal) by their fellow-countrymen who arrived not all that long before them. The motives of “do-gooders” is also examined, and the characterisation of a totally self-absorbed male of the “me generation” was sadly spot-on.
Many highly praiseworthy aspects to this book but as a novel, it didn't do it for me. I doubt it would do it for anyone who isn't interested in the issues surrounding one of the world's greatest problems (refugees and asylum seekers) but it might open their eyes a bit. That's sorely needed for way too many people.
This is barely a novel. Many chapters read like the extended articles you get in weekend newspapers, held together with a bit of a story. I can't help but feel it would have been better if published as non-fiction with “names changed”. The writing itself was excellent and covered several shameful aspects of today's Australia: the treatment of asylum seekers, the treatment of refugees, the abuse of recent immigrants (legal or illegal) by their fellow-countrymen who arrived not all that long before them. The motives of “do-gooders” is also examined, and the characterisation of a totally self-absorbed male of the “me generation” was sadly spot-on.
Many highly praiseworthy aspects to this book but as a novel, it didn't do it for me. I doubt it would do it for anyone who isn't interested in the issues surrounding one of the world's greatest problems (refugees and asylum seekers) but it might open their eyes a bit. That's sorely needed for way too many people.
November 1, 2013
Caroline Overington has become an automatic read for me. I absolutely loved her other novels and they all were 5 stars easily. This novel though didn’t grab me quite as much as her others, but it is still a good read. I really liked the character, police chaplain Paul Doherty who is called to the scene of a ‘siege’ at Bondi Beach’s most prestigious shopping mall. The narrative of this book though does jump all over the place as it is more a recount of what happened at the ‘seige’ and explores each of the characters who are hostages in the lingerie shop on the second floor. The story though, as only Caroline can do, explores the fate of refugees when they come to a developing country like Australia - a country that prides itself on multiculturalism and with Caroline’s writing style and background as a journalist you become very informed on some deeper issues. A pretty good read…..
November 7, 2021
Oh, this was bad. Everything about this audiobook was bad. The narration was wooden and stilted, the character voices by the narrator were shocking. Worse still, there are chapters in this book that are totally and utterly redundant to the story. Each and every character - and I mean EVERY character - has back story that advances the plot not a smidge. After that, the writing needed a good edit. This story was a short story padded out very badly.
And yet, i listened to it all. I suppose i was expecting some redemption to come from somewhere - anywhere - but i was sadly mistaken. N3ver been happier then hearing those final words: “I hope you’ve enjoyed this audible presentation.” I can sat quite confidently i did not.
And yet, i listened to it all. I suppose i was expecting some redemption to come from somewhere - anywhere - but i was sadly mistaken. N3ver been happier then hearing those final words: “I hope you’ve enjoyed this audible presentation.” I can sat quite confidently i did not.
October 8, 2013
I hadn't actually read any of author Caroline Overington's books before I read No Place Like Home. What I knew of her was that she had a journalistic background, that she likes to write about current topics, and that I know several people that really like her books. You can now add me to the list of her admirers.
In the case of No Place Like Home the topic that Overington has chosen to explore is the fate of refugees when they come to a developing country like Australia - a country that prides itself on multiculturalism. Like many other countries around the world, Australia has been grappling with the issues of how to protect our borders, whilst still allowing genuine refugees the chance of a new life. It is a highly emotive and divisive issue that has been manipulated by politicians for political gain for a long time now often with a great deal of misinformation to the public. Currently our Prime Minister is trying to implement a plan to send all refugees to Papua New Guinea with the effect that even if they are found to be genuine refugees that they will not be allowed to come here. I am not sure that as a wealthy country we do enough for those who are in genuine need.
The central character in the book is Ali Khan. He is a young man from a village in Tanzania who has been shunned by his own people because he is albino and therefore is seen as evil. In the refugee camp that he is in, he is kept locked up in a cage. There an Australian aid worker finds him and goes through the process of getting him the necessary documentation so he can make a new life for himself in his new home country as a legal citizen.
The story begins when Ali Khan enters a Sydney shopping centre early one weekday morning. He begins behaving erratically and soon draws attention of security. In a moment of confusion, a young girl pulls him in to the lingerie shop that she works in thinking that she is helping him escape from another person who is causing all the fuss. Security use the opportunity to isolate him by locking him in the shop with the young girl and the three other people who also ended up in the store. They are the shop assistant who goes by the name Mouse, a young boy named Mitchell who comes from a poor family but has won a scholarship to a nearby prestigious college, a slimy real estate agent by the name of Roger and a young woman named Kimmi who works in a nearby store.
The police are quickly on the scene, working to identify who each of the people in the store are, but also most importantly, to identify what exactly the threat is. Who exactly is Ali Khan? What are his demands? Why does he look as scared as the hostages? Why hasn't he said a single word since this whole drama began? Does he really have a bomb strapped around his neck? Is this a potential terrorist attack?
To read more of my thoughts about this book head to
http://www.theintrepidreader.com/2013...
December 19, 2013
No Place Like Home is Caroline Overington's fifth novel and my first by this author.
Paul Doherty, a police chaplain, is the narrator of this tragic tale. His compelling narrative flows with ease as he reveals the story of young Ali Khan (an African refugee victimized by his own people and thrown aside by the Australian bureaucratic system) who enters a shopping center with a bomb strapped to his chest under his hoodie. He ends up locked in a store with four other people while the police frantically evacuate the building and try to establish his motive and identity.
Paul's in-depth interviews with the hostages after the incident uncover the true story behind the siege - a story of such inconceivable anguish and hopelessness that it will challenge even Paul's unrivaled faith.
A heart breaking and gripping story!
Paul Doherty, a police chaplain, is the narrator of this tragic tale. His compelling narrative flows with ease as he reveals the story of young Ali Khan (an African refugee victimized by his own people and thrown aside by the Australian bureaucratic system) who enters a shopping center with a bomb strapped to his chest under his hoodie. He ends up locked in a store with four other people while the police frantically evacuate the building and try to establish his motive and identity.
Paul's in-depth interviews with the hostages after the incident uncover the true story behind the siege - a story of such inconceivable anguish and hopelessness that it will challenge even Paul's unrivaled faith.
A heart breaking and gripping story!
April 20, 2014
I'm going to go as far to say this was the worst book I have ever read. I have loved all of Overington's previous books but this one was terrible. It went no where and to be frank was just plain boring. Do not recommend
January 29, 2022
This is a very thought provoking story. The characters are diverse and believable, and evoke emotions in the reader, whether you identify with them or not. I have recently become a huge fan of this author, especially as her stories are all very different, and do not conform to a formula - and the endings are never predictable.
April 21, 2024
Pārāk daudz tēlu un to priekšvēstures tik īsam stāstam - svarīgas tēmas un problēmas, bet galā likās kā kiš-miš ar rozīnēm.
February 4, 2023
Terrible. It was just like listening to a news report of a bomber holding hostages. No plot twist, no character engagement. It was just like listening to an in-depth a current affair episode
*audiobook
*audiobook
February 5, 2016
Having read her previous books, I am used to Caroline Overington's unique yet highly effective story telling style - so it was no surprise that No Place Like Home was told through the voice of a middle aged man. And as always she totally nails the character - in this case a Catholic Priest (and police chaplain) named Father Paul Doherty.
Father Paul gets a call about a siege that is underway at Bondi's popular Surf City Shopping Centre. It is a very unusual situation - after all things like that rarely happen in laid back (and exclusive) Bondi. What is even odder is the instigator of the siege - a former Tanzanian refugee named Ali Khan - has made no demands and seems just as perplexed by the whole situation as the four hostages holed up with him in a lingerie shop.
Father Paul's experiences are recounted while cleverly weaving the background stories of the hostages and Ali Khan into the narrative. Rejected in his home village due to his albino condition, Ali has lead a shockingly tragic life at the mercy of various government decisions (in both Africa and Australia). As the story unfolds you know it is not going to end well, but at the same time are drawn in by the numerous threads and feel compelled to know more.
Overington has the ability to highlight shocking social issues that for most of us simply slip under the radar. While we may hear about the plight of refugees in detention centres, most of us have no direct involvement with them and have no clue as to the way "the system" works. No Place Like Home is a tragic story that is also entirely plausible. Like most sieges the one at Surf City was not a sudden, rash decision by a crazed individual - rather it is the end product of a long list of bad decisions, each pushing Ali closer to the point of no return.
Amid all this sad subject matter, Overington's writing style is simple and concise and very easy to read. As I mentioned earlier she captures perfectly the voice of a fifty-something Australian man who almost all of us can easily relate to.
Overall a sad but gripping story that will leave it's mark and make you realise that for some people life is just not fair.
Father Paul gets a call about a siege that is underway at Bondi's popular Surf City Shopping Centre. It is a very unusual situation - after all things like that rarely happen in laid back (and exclusive) Bondi. What is even odder is the instigator of the siege - a former Tanzanian refugee named Ali Khan - has made no demands and seems just as perplexed by the whole situation as the four hostages holed up with him in a lingerie shop.
Father Paul's experiences are recounted while cleverly weaving the background stories of the hostages and Ali Khan into the narrative. Rejected in his home village due to his albino condition, Ali has lead a shockingly tragic life at the mercy of various government decisions (in both Africa and Australia). As the story unfolds you know it is not going to end well, but at the same time are drawn in by the numerous threads and feel compelled to know more.
Overington has the ability to highlight shocking social issues that for most of us simply slip under the radar. While we may hear about the plight of refugees in detention centres, most of us have no direct involvement with them and have no clue as to the way "the system" works. No Place Like Home is a tragic story that is also entirely plausible. Like most sieges the one at Surf City was not a sudden, rash decision by a crazed individual - rather it is the end product of a long list of bad decisions, each pushing Ali closer to the point of no return.
Amid all this sad subject matter, Overington's writing style is simple and concise and very easy to read. As I mentioned earlier she captures perfectly the voice of a fifty-something Australian man who almost all of us can easily relate to.
Overall a sad but gripping story that will leave it's mark and make you realise that for some people life is just not fair.
April 9, 2014
‘That’s not the way life works. You don’t get warning of the things that will change you.’
Shortly after 9.30am on the 18th of April 2011, a young man walked into a shopping centre in Bondi. No one pays him much attention, until he starts to run. This novel, written some time later from the point of view of Father Paul Doherty (a former priest and police chaplain), tells us about that day and the events that led to it.
Father Paul tells the story of Ali Khan, and how he came to be locked in a lingerie store with four other people with a bomb chained around his neck. We learn about Ali through the stories of those whose lives touched his: including the aid worker who took pity on him in Tanzania, and the self-righteous home stay volunteer who ‘rescued’ him from immigration detention. We also learn something about the lives of the other four people locked in the store.
What does Ali want? He seems either unable or unwilling to speak making it is difficult for the police to negotiate. Time is passing by, and while the police (with the aid of technology) work out who is in the store, they are still no closer to resolving the situation. And then, one of the people trapped in the store tries to reach out to Ali. What will happen next?
The tension has built throughout the story; each new piece of information casts new light on Ali. Is he a villain, or a victim?
I found this a challenging novel to read. While I felt moved by the terrible situation that Ali Khan was in, I felt manipulated by some aspects of the story. Still, the treatment of refugees (and those seeking refugee status) is a topical issue in Australia at present, and thinking more about the people and issues involved cannot be a bad thing. The other characters who have a part in this story represent a broad spectrum of what is good and bad in our society, as well as the barely visible spaces occupied by those who speak no (or little) English.
This is Caroline Overington’s fifth novel: I’ve yet to read the others.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Shortly after 9.30am on the 18th of April 2011, a young man walked into a shopping centre in Bondi. No one pays him much attention, until he starts to run. This novel, written some time later from the point of view of Father Paul Doherty (a former priest and police chaplain), tells us about that day and the events that led to it.
Father Paul tells the story of Ali Khan, and how he came to be locked in a lingerie store with four other people with a bomb chained around his neck. We learn about Ali through the stories of those whose lives touched his: including the aid worker who took pity on him in Tanzania, and the self-righteous home stay volunteer who ‘rescued’ him from immigration detention. We also learn something about the lives of the other four people locked in the store.
What does Ali want? He seems either unable or unwilling to speak making it is difficult for the police to negotiate. Time is passing by, and while the police (with the aid of technology) work out who is in the store, they are still no closer to resolving the situation. And then, one of the people trapped in the store tries to reach out to Ali. What will happen next?
The tension has built throughout the story; each new piece of information casts new light on Ali. Is he a villain, or a victim?
I found this a challenging novel to read. While I felt moved by the terrible situation that Ali Khan was in, I felt manipulated by some aspects of the story. Still, the treatment of refugees (and those seeking refugee status) is a topical issue in Australia at present, and thinking more about the people and issues involved cannot be a bad thing. The other characters who have a part in this story represent a broad spectrum of what is good and bad in our society, as well as the barely visible spaces occupied by those who speak no (or little) English.
This is Caroline Overington’s fifth novel: I’ve yet to read the others.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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December 27, 2013No Place Like Home is compelling reading. The reader wants to know what happens next, and along the way Overington ranges over several of the most important questions facing Australia today. What kind of country do we want to be? What kind of generation do we want to be remembered as? A generation which has allowed dog-whistle politics to whip up feelings of invasion and xenophobia, instead of tolerance and compassion? People who fail to act to restrain greenhouse gas emissions, only to have our government’s policy of “stop the boats” overwhelmed by a tidal flood of global human migration when sea levels begin to flood low-lying countries? It’s exciting to see such issues being addressed in popular fiction.
This is an extract of a response published on my blog. You can read the full version here.
This is an extract of a response published on my blog. You can read the full version here.
February 17, 2014
I love Caroline Overington's books. The Aussie flavour is so refreshing and spot on. This book is no exception. Exploring so many relevant social complexities, this story is different to the others I've read in the fact that it focuses on immigrants in Australia - like the 'boat people'... the challenges and difficulties they face as well as the reactions of Australians to these people.
This story is told from only one point of view too - which is different to her other books. I love how the story is recounted - weaving in the life experiences of the other main characters, all with the voice of the Police chaplain who watches the drama unfold.
A gripping story that, although fiction, seems so real because the issues are prevalent in today's society.
This story is told from only one point of view too - which is different to her other books. I love how the story is recounted - weaving in the life experiences of the other main characters, all with the voice of the Police chaplain who watches the drama unfold.
A gripping story that, although fiction, seems so real because the issues are prevalent in today's society.
October 6, 2013
We rarely think of the human face of those yearning for a better life or arriving on our shores. And I’m as guilty as anyone else in that regard.
In Caroline Overington’s latest novel, No Place Like Home, the plight of refugees (here in Australia and elsewhere in the world) is not the story itself, but part of an important narrative which underlies everything that follows.
Read my full review in my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
In Caroline Overington’s latest novel, No Place Like Home, the plight of refugees (here in Australia and elsewhere in the world) is not the story itself, but part of an important narrative which underlies everything that follows.
Read my full review in my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
February 5, 2017
Outstanding and very well writen. This was a fantastic book with a different spin on it. Caroline overington well done. A awesome author.
August 1, 2014
I really enjoy Caroline Overington's writing style, reading her novels is like sitting down and having a conversation with a friend - very easy to read and always leaves you wanting more. This was a great read!
September 19, 2022
There are way too many unmecessary details about every single character in this story. I did enjoy the audio performance.
November 12, 2021
This could have been pretty good, but I just don’t understand the point of it. If it was based on a real life situation, the ending might be more understandable. As it was fiction, there just seems to be a lot of stuff thrown around in the air and then left to drop, without any real reason or explanation.
The priest was annoying. If this was written like a personal diary, it would make more sense, the vicious thoughts he had about so many people. It’s one thing to have them, another to share them, particularly when you have such a role in society. The narrator on Audible was also irritating to listen to, his enunciation sometimes over the top.
Why would Ali have been a citizen? That was never explained. I might not understand fully, but it seems from the back story that he was a relatively recent arrival and would have been placed under some kind of status other than a citizen.
I understand the issues being highlighted around his treatment, but not really why what happened actually happened in the first place. Nor do I understand why the real perpetrators were so barely mentioned.
The tragedies that unfolded in the story took a very long time. One made little sense really, while the other was heartbreaking.
It just seems to be a diatribe against the way new arrivals can be treated, without any real outcome.
The priest was annoying. If this was written like a personal diary, it would make more sense, the vicious thoughts he had about so many people. It’s one thing to have them, another to share them, particularly when you have such a role in society. The narrator on Audible was also irritating to listen to, his enunciation sometimes over the top.
Why would Ali have been a citizen? That was never explained. I might not understand fully, but it seems from the back story that he was a relatively recent arrival and would have been placed under some kind of status other than a citizen.
I understand the issues being highlighted around his treatment, but not really why what happened actually happened in the first place. Nor do I understand why the real perpetrators were so barely mentioned.
The tragedies that unfolded in the story took a very long time. One made little sense really, while the other was heartbreaking.
It just seems to be a diatribe against the way new arrivals can be treated, without any real outcome.
January 31, 2023
What was the point of any of that??
All the tiny details about all the characters and their lives? It's not like it went into how tragedy affects different types of people - well not in any kind of depth at least.
It was obvious from the beginning that the school kid was going to die from how utterly perfect he was described as being.
And the infantilism of Asians? Constantly describing the girls or women as "tiny girls", "little girls" etc... I know Asian women do tend to be shorter than other races, but what was the purpose of mentioning it here, never mind repeating it over and over? Clearly to make it appear that they are like kids - innocent, vulnerable etc...
The chaplain narrator was annoying as hell too.
The only interesting thing about the entire book was how Tanzanian albinos are treated - I didn't know that so I googled it and read a bit about it.
This whole book could have been an article or short story about Tanzanian albinos and the rest of the book shredded.
All the tiny details about all the characters and their lives? It's not like it went into how tragedy affects different types of people - well not in any kind of depth at least.
It was obvious from the beginning that the school kid was going to die from how utterly perfect he was described as being.
And the infantilism of Asians? Constantly describing the girls or women as "tiny girls", "little girls" etc... I know Asian women do tend to be shorter than other races, but what was the purpose of mentioning it here, never mind repeating it over and over? Clearly to make it appear that they are like kids - innocent, vulnerable etc...
The chaplain narrator was annoying as hell too.
The only interesting thing about the entire book was how Tanzanian albinos are treated - I didn't know that so I googled it and read a bit about it.
This whole book could have been an article or short story about Tanzanian albinos and the rest of the book shredded.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2023
2.5 stars. Such a sad story. I like Overington’s books because they discuss important social issues and make me think. Usually they are also very readable. The present book isn’t great as a book - tedious, unwieldy narration, with plenty of redundant detail - and I wanted to give up a few times. Yet the story grew on me - the poor boy’s plight highlighted so many issues with the refugees / social services / systems which are established to help but consistently fail. Overington tends to put a magnifying glass to various social problems and I appreciate it but the author rarely / never offers solutions. She also has a thing for social workers and social service officers in general which is plain unfair. Her characters are typically black or white - look at Roger (so inhumane that practically a caricature) or Mitchell (saint-like). Overall, I’m surprised I’ve actually finished it given all the problems and poor performance of the person reading the audiobook.
July 29, 2024
I found this book utterly captivating. The perspective of the bystander as the narrator was compelling and added a dimension that gave the story depth and plenty of intrigue.
I loved how the book tackled a sensitive and politically charged topic in a way that presented many different angles. It reads like a true account and it’s extremely well and thoroughly researched, so it feels like you are reading non-fiction (which for me, made it a real emotional rollercoaster).
I highly recommend this one if you are interested in social and cultural narratives, and you’re looking for something a bit different. Caroline Overington is such a talented writer. I love it when Australian authors that completely hook me in, (somehow I feel like I just being the same nationality, it’s a shared achievement 🤣)
and her work, more often than not, does just that.
I loved how the book tackled a sensitive and politically charged topic in a way that presented many different angles. It reads like a true account and it’s extremely well and thoroughly researched, so it feels like you are reading non-fiction (which for me, made it a real emotional rollercoaster).
I highly recommend this one if you are interested in social and cultural narratives, and you’re looking for something a bit different. Caroline Overington is such a talented writer. I love it when Australian authors that completely hook me in, (somehow I feel like I just being the same nationality, it’s a shared achievement 🤣)
and her work, more often than not, does just that.
April 10, 2022
Oh my goodness this woman is good. She’s pulled me in completely with the 2 books I’ve listened to and they have left me in tears through anger, frustration, heartache for the characters and their down right bad luck and bad timing.
This as with the last one I read is told from a bystander’s perspective rather than the main character. In this case it was Father Paul Doherty and how he collates the past of the 4 main characters as we move through the siege and beyond it.
This is absolutely worth picking up, though be very careful where you are reading/listening as it will leave you in tears!
This as with the last one I read is told from a bystander’s perspective rather than the main character. In this case it was Father Paul Doherty and how he collates the past of the 4 main characters as we move through the siege and beyond it.
This is absolutely worth picking up, though be very careful where you are reading/listening as it will leave you in tears!
September 9, 2023
Wonderfully done. Sad, yet eye-opening. It shows how something as simply as being born in the right or wrong country, your race, gender, health condition, family money status, etc., really sets up your ability to succeed in life well before you are even able to speak on your own behalf and attempt at making a change.
Most books that tend to bounce from present to past and from character to character really irritate me. However, this book flowed easily in and out, and it was easy to move along with each transition and understand how our main character came to be who he was.
Recommended 👍
📚 📚📚📚📚
Most books that tend to bounce from present to past and from character to character really irritate me. However, this book flowed easily in and out, and it was easy to move along with each transition and understand how our main character came to be who he was.
Recommended 👍
📚 📚📚📚📚
October 9, 2013
Just after 9:30am a young man walks into a shopping centre in Bondi in Sydney. It’s still early, so the shopping centre is relatively quiet and although he is noticed, he doesn’t attract any attention until he reaches the fourth floor. His odd behaviour alerts security but as they are on their way up to perhaps apprehend him and see what he’s up to, he trips outside a lingerie store, knocking down a young worker from the manicure place next door. A 12yo schoolboy trips over them and the worker from the lingerie store scoops them all inside, perhaps thinking she’s doing the right thing, seeing what’s going on and if they’re ok. Security monitoring the floor immediately lockdown the lingerie store, locking them inside and it is then that the woman working there realises that the young man who knocked the manicurist over has something chained around his neck, underneath his oversized hoodie: a bomb.
Paul is a former parish priest now working as the police chaplain. He is called to the scene by the officer in charge after they arrive on the fourth floor and have cleared the area. There is a bad feeling about the situation – four people (later discovered to be five) locked inside a lingerie store, one of the people with a crude homemade bomb around his neck. Technology these days makes it relatively easy to identify everyone at the scene and it isn’t long before they have names, next of kin and almost the entire life story of those that are trapped.
The young man with the bomb is Ali Khan, an Australian citizen who was plucked from a refugee camp in Africa. They are unable to determine what he wants – he won’t speak to them, he doesn’t appear to even understand them. He hasn’t uttered a single word the entire time. This situation doesn’t appear to be going to end well – it’s hard to negotiate with someone who won’t – or can’t – tell you what the problem is, what they want and how it can be resolved.
The minutes tick by and those watching hold their breath as someone within the shop makes an attempt to reach out. Can the situation be diffused by someone untrained, simply by caring or will it all end in tragedy?
It seems like this, Caroline Overington’s fifth book couldn’t come at a more politically relevant time. As the country settles into a new government, the topic of asylum seekers aka “boat people” remains a contentious one. Since the days of John Howard, there’s been a steady build up against those coming to this country by boat and the average person seems to believe we’ll be inundated by millions of them at any given moment, sweeping in to take our houses, jobs and all of the country’s money. In this novel, Ali Khan is was a refugee. He was granted Australian citizenship after being declared at risk in his native country of Tanzania due to being an albino black person. The culture describes such people as evil, devil spirits and they are persecuted, beaten and often killed for black magic as some witchdoctors claim their bones, ground down to a powder, cure AIDS.
What happened to Ali Khan when he arrived in Australia isn’t hard to imagine. He had no kin to greet him. Others of his culture feared and even loathed him. The relevant authorities and groups simply had no idea what to do with him. He didn’t speak and had little idea how to adapt to life in his new country, so different from the wire cage he was kept in at the refugee camp that hosted 40,000 people. He was bounced from home stay to a hotel and finally to a detention centre where he languished for years, despite being a citizen, despite never having actually done anything wrong.
Told in a simple fashion by Paul, the police chaplain, this book introduces all of the key people and explains how they came to be there on that day at that time and how their lives propelled them towards this precise moment. The story of Ali Khan that unfolds is so desperately sad and shows how one person can slip through the cracks of various organisations, who don’t know what to do with them. In being granted a new life in Australia, he should’ve left persecution, heartbreak, pain and suffering behind but instead he experienced just as much, if not more in his new life. It made me wonder just what do we do with people that come here, alone? Where do they go? How do they find places to live, English courses, jobs, etc? The one person they organised to come and help Ali Khan couldn’t even be in the same room as him because of the stigma his condition/appearance carried. But no one else was organised to really help him, to be kind to him, to show him the new ways of life that we take for granted here. He had never seen a shower before, didn’t know how to use one. He lasted a very short amount of time in home stay because his landlord was ill equipped for the role, something that hadn’t been noticed despite her string of failures taking in overseas paying students.
This is a sad book on so many levels. Sad because what happened could have and should have been avoided. There were so many things involved in driving the events forward until they reached that horrible conclusion that were a breakdown of responsibilities by so many people and departments. It shows the judgement he faced, before officers knew the full story and even after, in the media and just in the general public. Once again Caroline Overington has taken a subject and an issue and spun a story around it that encourages the reader to see beyond what is so often portrayed, to see the people inside the story and behind it. And it’s done very well.
Paul is a former parish priest now working as the police chaplain. He is called to the scene by the officer in charge after they arrive on the fourth floor and have cleared the area. There is a bad feeling about the situation – four people (later discovered to be five) locked inside a lingerie store, one of the people with a crude homemade bomb around his neck. Technology these days makes it relatively easy to identify everyone at the scene and it isn’t long before they have names, next of kin and almost the entire life story of those that are trapped.
The young man with the bomb is Ali Khan, an Australian citizen who was plucked from a refugee camp in Africa. They are unable to determine what he wants – he won’t speak to them, he doesn’t appear to even understand them. He hasn’t uttered a single word the entire time. This situation doesn’t appear to be going to end well – it’s hard to negotiate with someone who won’t – or can’t – tell you what the problem is, what they want and how it can be resolved.
The minutes tick by and those watching hold their breath as someone within the shop makes an attempt to reach out. Can the situation be diffused by someone untrained, simply by caring or will it all end in tragedy?
It seems like this, Caroline Overington’s fifth book couldn’t come at a more politically relevant time. As the country settles into a new government, the topic of asylum seekers aka “boat people” remains a contentious one. Since the days of John Howard, there’s been a steady build up against those coming to this country by boat and the average person seems to believe we’ll be inundated by millions of them at any given moment, sweeping in to take our houses, jobs and all of the country’s money. In this novel, Ali Khan is was a refugee. He was granted Australian citizenship after being declared at risk in his native country of Tanzania due to being an albino black person. The culture describes such people as evil, devil spirits and they are persecuted, beaten and often killed for black magic as some witchdoctors claim their bones, ground down to a powder, cure AIDS.
What happened to Ali Khan when he arrived in Australia isn’t hard to imagine. He had no kin to greet him. Others of his culture feared and even loathed him. The relevant authorities and groups simply had no idea what to do with him. He didn’t speak and had little idea how to adapt to life in his new country, so different from the wire cage he was kept in at the refugee camp that hosted 40,000 people. He was bounced from home stay to a hotel and finally to a detention centre where he languished for years, despite being a citizen, despite never having actually done anything wrong.
Told in a simple fashion by Paul, the police chaplain, this book introduces all of the key people and explains how they came to be there on that day at that time and how their lives propelled them towards this precise moment. The story of Ali Khan that unfolds is so desperately sad and shows how one person can slip through the cracks of various organisations, who don’t know what to do with them. In being granted a new life in Australia, he should’ve left persecution, heartbreak, pain and suffering behind but instead he experienced just as much, if not more in his new life. It made me wonder just what do we do with people that come here, alone? Where do they go? How do they find places to live, English courses, jobs, etc? The one person they organised to come and help Ali Khan couldn’t even be in the same room as him because of the stigma his condition/appearance carried. But no one else was organised to really help him, to be kind to him, to show him the new ways of life that we take for granted here. He had never seen a shower before, didn’t know how to use one. He lasted a very short amount of time in home stay because his landlord was ill equipped for the role, something that hadn’t been noticed despite her string of failures taking in overseas paying students.
This is a sad book on so many levels. Sad because what happened could have and should have been avoided. There were so many things involved in driving the events forward until they reached that horrible conclusion that were a breakdown of responsibilities by so many people and departments. It shows the judgement he faced, before officers knew the full story and even after, in the media and just in the general public. Once again Caroline Overington has taken a subject and an issue and spun a story around it that encourages the reader to see beyond what is so often portrayed, to see the people inside the story and behind it. And it’s done very well.
February 2, 2022
Listened via Audible.
Ali Khan enters a Bondi Beach shopping centre with a homemade bomb strapped to his neck. He ends up in a lingerie shop called - wait for it - Cups and Saucy (loved that) with 4 others or "hostages", Mouse, Roger, Kimmy K and a schoolboy called Mitchell.
The book is told by Father Paul, a police Chaplin, both in present day and on the day of the siege. He tells the stories of each individual in the shop.
Once I got over the narrators accent and they way he pronounced some words, I utterly enjoyed this book. All is not what it seems.
Ali Khan enters a Bondi Beach shopping centre with a homemade bomb strapped to his neck. He ends up in a lingerie shop called - wait for it - Cups and Saucy (loved that) with 4 others or "hostages", Mouse, Roger, Kimmy K and a schoolboy called Mitchell.
The book is told by Father Paul, a police Chaplin, both in present day and on the day of the siege. He tells the stories of each individual in the shop.
Once I got over the narrators accent and they way he pronounced some words, I utterly enjoyed this book. All is not what it seems.
February 10, 2023
An interesting read. I saw some reviews that complained it didn't have a story. It doesn't, or at least it's a very basic story. There are a lot of characters, some of which didn't need as much time given to them as they did. However, what I took from it is that it's basically making a point about how terrible the immigration system is in Australia. If the system had worked, Ali Khan would have been picked up/noticed much earlier than he was and the whole siege at the mall wouldn't have happened. He is a sad character who was a victim of a terrible system.
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