India, May 17 -- It's not a winning title. And as titles go, Small Boat is a small book too. Just 160 pages. Three sections. Vincent Delecroix's International Booker Prize shortlisted novel is a work of fiction from start to finish. But it stems from a real-life incident on the chilly night of November 2021, when an inflatable boat, en route from France to the United Kingdom, capsized in the Channel, whilst still in French territorial waters near Calais and Dunkirk.

30 migrants were on board; they sent out numerous calls for help. But the French authorities wrongly told them that they were in British waters, and needed to direct their SOS calls to the UK. Hours passed as coastguard authorities of the two nations argued over who was respo...