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  • Reading Group Questions For No Place Like Home by Caroline Overington

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    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 Superintendent 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 simply an innocent boy, betrayed at every turn, who just wants a place to call home?

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    Reading Group Questions for No Place Like Home by Caroline Overington

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    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 Superintendent 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 simply an innocent boy, betrayed at every turn, who just wants a place to call home?

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    97 views2 pages

    Reading Group Questions For No Place Like Home by Caroline Overington

    Uploaded by

    RandomHouseAU
    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 Superintendent 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 simply an innocent boy, betrayed at every turn, who just wants a place to call home?

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    NO PLACE LIKE HOME by Caroline Overington Format: Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781742758015 Imprint: Bantam Australia Released 1 October

    2013

    Reading Group Questions


    No Place Like Home is written as a thriller but it is also a book about secrets and lies, about strangers, and the dangers of trusting only in what we know. In our hearts, we know that our day-today happiness is much more likely to be impacted by a betrayal by somebody we love or by the loss of somebody dear than by a stranger yet it is strangers we fear. Why? Ali Khan is the stranger at the heart of this book. Who or what does he symbolise? What argument do you think the author was trying to make about our fear of the unknown and our comfort with the familiar when she wrote this book? Why do you think the author decided to make the stranger in this story a refugee? Is there any significance in the fact that he is outcast in his own country as well as in Australia? Do the challenges that Ali Khan faced upon arrival in Australia ring true? Is Australia a welcoming country? Does it need to be? No Place Like Home also raises questions about moral courage, particularly in times of crisis. What significance do you put on the fact that the greatest courage is shown by the youngest people in the group? The book is narrated by a former priest, presumably of the Catholic church. Do priests still have moral authority in Australia? What significance, if any, do you give to the fact that the author decided to make the narrator a former priest? Why did Father Paul have to leave the priesthood after the siege at Surf City? Was it a decision that was coming for him anyway? How well did police on the scene handle the drama? What was the risk in taking a shot at Ali Khan? In the book, Roger Callaghan appears to stand for material success. What is the author saying about appearances in this regard? Who or what does Kimmi K stand for? Is there a statement about class being made here? From start to finish, the author does not give Ali Khan a voice. Why do you think she made that decision?

    Reading Group Questions for No Place Like Home by Caroline Overington Available in bookshops and ebook retailers 1 October 2013 No Place Like Home: Print ISBN: 9781742758015 | ebook ISBN: 9781742758039 Imprint: Bantam Australia | Publisher: Random House Australia
    Copyright Caroline Overington 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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