The Sadness of Geography: My Life as a Tamil Exile

The harrowing journey of a teenage refugee who never gave up on his dream of seeing his family again.

Born to a wealthy family in northern Sri Lanka, Logathasan (Das) Tharmathurai and his family lost everything during the long and brutal Sri Lankan Civil War.

In January 1985, at the age of eighteen, Das left his home in Sri Lanka in a desperate bid to build a new life for himself and his family abroad after a deeply traumatic encounter with a group of Sinhalese soldiers. As his terrifying and often astonishing journey unfolds, he finds himself in a refugee camp, being smuggled across international borders, living with drug dealers, imprisoned, and more.

The Sadness of Geography is a moving story of innocence lost, the persecution of an entire people, and the universal quest for a better life.