“I never wanted to tell you this story….”
- Book: The Optician of Lampedusa
- Location: Lampedusa
- Author: Emma Jane Kirby
At 06:00 on October 3rd, 2013, the shy Optician of Lampedusa – a small island just 70 km from the coast of north Africa – woke up on his boat Galata. He, his wife and six close friends were enjoying a short holiday on the water. What happened next changed their lives forever.
What they thought at first was the screech of seagulls was actually the desperate cry of migrants, mainly from Eritrea, drowning after their boat had sunk some hours earlier.
While others turned away, the Optician and his friends had no thought, other than to pull as many survivors from the water as possible. They saved 46 men and 1 woman that day, the Optician reaching out his hand to flailing bodies, slicked with oil and close to death.
But 368 others drowned, just 1 km from the island and their dream of a new life in Europe.
In 114 pages, Emma Jane Kirby succeeds brilliantly in humanising the tragedy of the migrant trail. By telling the Optician’s story as a narrative non-fiction novel she forces the reader to think about real people, and not about statistics.
This is an important book, telling a horrible story beautifully. It has turned my view of the migration crisis on its head….it may just do the same to you.
Andrew for TripFiction
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