SMALL BOAT by Vincent Delecroix

Translated by Helen Stevenson

When Hannah Arendt wrote of the banality of evil while observing the Eichmann trial, it seemed uniquely relevant to the Nazi machinery. Sadly, time has proven it has endless application, as humanity has strived to debase itself in newer but no less awful ways. In his International Booker shortlisted Small Boat, Vincent Delecroix has given us an all-too-familiar example, shocking only for the particular manifestation of evil in this instance: indifference.

Inspired by (many) a true story, the book tells of a group of migrants who set off from France in a dinghy to cross the Channel into England. Early into the trip they hit trouble and take on water. They frantically call both French and English coast guards, both of whom pass the buck, caring more about territorial delineation than human life. The boat sinks. Twenty seven people die.

In giving us the self-serving justifications of the French coastguard, Delecroix has fashioned a seering J’Accuse for the modern era. And the brief interlude describing the ill-fated journey is the most harrowing thing I’ve read in recent memory. I closed Small Boat totally bereft, remembering the Tampa and SIEV X disasters, and questioning our collective complicity.

An absolute must read.

Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (Tr. Helen Stevenson)
Small Axes, 2025
122 pages