Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize
The Financial Times calls it "one of the best titles of the year so far"*
WINNER of the Children's Wainwright Prize for Fiction 2025

A UTOPIAN FUTURE.
A FORBIDDEN WILDERNESS.
TWO KIDS TRYING TO SURVIVE.
Twenty-five years into the future, no humans are allowed in the Wildlands – a vast area in Britain where wolves, lynx and bison roam free. The only exception is a high-speed train line between London and Glasgow that crosses right through the heart of the project. Thirteen-year-old Astrid and her little sister, Indie, are onboard when their train slows to a brief, unexpected stop … and they find themselves accidentally left behind. Stranded in this place of astonishing natural wonders and terrible dangers, they have only a rucksack, a phone without signal – and each other. As every wrong turn takes them deeper into the Wildlands, do they have the ingenuity and determination to survive?
How far would YOU go to find your way home?

Perfect for fans of THE EXPLORER and THE LAST WILD, this riveting and emotional story takes place in an imagined future teeming with lost flora and fauna that we can only dream about encountering today.

Winner of the Shropshire Bookfest Book Award 2026
Shortlisted for the Peters Children's Book of the Year 2026
Shortlisted for the Redbridge Book Award 2026


*"Best Summer Books of 2025", 21 June 2025, Financial Times