Awards

• Long-listed for The Branford Boase Award 2026 (UK)
• Winner of Wainwright Prize 2025 (UK)

Overview

Perfect for fans of THE EXPLORER, this exciting debut novel is a gripping and heartfelt survival story set in a future rewilded England. Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2026 Winner of the Wainwright Children's 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. Awards- Winner of the Wainwright Children's Prize for Fiction 2025 Winner of the Shropshire Bookfest Big Book Award 2026 Shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2026 Shortlisted for the Redbridge Book Award 2026 Shortlisted for the Peters Children's Book of the Year 2026

Full Product Details

9780241728109

Table of Contents

Reviews

Convincing and affecting, this classic-in-the-making keeps things nail-bitingly real. * Teach Primary magazine * Set in a utopian landscape and addressing big questions about humanity's relationship with the environment, this is a gripping and refreshingly original story of survival against the odds. Engrossing, thrilling and thought-provoking. * BookTrust * At the core of this book is a story about tenacity, sisterly love and hope all wrapped up in a brilliant adventure. Chapter after chapter is filled with emotional depth, adventurist dilemmas and thought-provoking conversation starters around what Britain’s ecological future might look like – a brilliant read! -- David O'Rourke * Books For Keeps *

Author Information

After graduating with a degree in Zoology from the University of Cambridge, Brogen Murphy set about trying to figure out how best to save the world. They tried ecology field work, carbon offsetting and a brief stint in climate activism, before spending fifteen years promoting clean technologies to help build a low-carbon future. They live with their wife by the sea in Suffolk, and when not writing they can be found in the forest looking (down) for mushrooms or (up) for birds - and therefore often tripping over. Their debut children's novel Wildlands is published by Penguin Random House.

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