The paper demonstrates the pursuit of freedom of two characters—Biju from The Inheritance of Loss and Leila from The Final Passage. Disillusioned with tediousness, poverty and emptiness of their everyday existence they decide to break free and start new lives. Biju flees from India to the United States and Leila, with her husband and son, from a small Caribbean island to England. Unfortunately, soon after their arrival in what they hoped to be their El Dorados, both Biju and Leila have to face the fact that the stories about lands of milk and honey they were told in their villages were sheer fantasies. The alluring promises of economic and personal freedom were the result of naivety, lack of knowledge, rumours and various misconceptions about life in England and the United States. Biju and Leila exchange poverty for poverty, squalor for squalor and hopelessness for misery. Their situation is further aggravated by the growing sense of alienation from the surrounding society. Eventually, Leila and Biju realize that their quests for freedom have been futile. Not only do they possess less than before leaving their native countries but what is worse, they have been robbed of dignity. Having travelled from innocence to experience they become aware of the fact that the only means to regain freedom is to return home, imperfect as it is, because this is the only place where they truly belong.