"An absorbing, vivid and unusual survival story."
April 2025 Debut of the Month
Two young people are left to survive alone in a dangerous wilderness, far from any other humans in this unusual future-set story.
It’s 2050 and Astrid and her little sister Indie are travelling by train from London to Glasgow, a journey that takes them through the Wildlands, a huge area of northern England and southern Scotland forcibly cleared of its human inhabitants and rewilded as a sanctuary for wildlife, wolves and bears included.
Their mum was involved in its creation and Indie is excited to look out from the train windows, Astrid less so, particularly as she’s recently discovered secrets her mothers kept from her which have changed her view of them and herself. When the sisters accidentally fall from the train and are left with little more than the clothes they are wearing, this becomes a gripping survival story.
Living on apples and items salvaged from an abandoned house they find themselves with less and less to protect themselves and at the mercy of nature, threatened not so much by wild animals, more by their own unfamiliarity with the world they are in. Brogen Murphy creates a convincing and vivid natural world, simultaneously appealing and threatening. We need to read to the very end to find out if the girls survive and this is an absorbing adventure, Astrid’s distress about her family adding depth to a story that makes you think about our place in the world.
A utopian futureA forbidden wildernessTwo sisters trying to survive
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A utopian futureA forbidden wildernessTwo sisters 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.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Wildlands and determined it is suitable for children aged 7-12 years old
Wildlands features in the following genres: Featured Books for 7+ readers, Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Debuts of the Month, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Crime & Mystery, Fantasy / Magical, Children’s / Teenage fiction: General, modern and contemporary fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Speculative, dystopian and utopian fiction, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
Wildlands was written by Brogen Murphy and published by Puffin an imprint of Penguin Random House Children's UK
Wildlands has 401 pages
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
