- Chapter Books
- Ages 8–12
- Adventure
Wildlands
A tense, beautifully written eco-adventure set twenty-five years in the future, where two sisters are accidentally stranded in a rewilded Britain roamed by wolves, lynx and bison. Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Children's Fiction 2025.
- Best for8–12
- FormatChapter
- Length416 pp
- Read aloud~5 hr55 min
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The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Literary
- Conversational
Tone
- Exciting
- Adventurous
- Suspenseful
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Twenty-five years from now, a vast swathe of Britain has been given back to the wild. In the Wildlands, wolves, lynx and bison roam free, and no human is allowed to set foot there, except aboard the high-speed train that streaks between London and Glasgow across the heart of the project. Thirteen-year-old Astrid and her little sister Indie are on that train when it makes a brief, unexpected stop, and in a heartbeat they are left behind, stranded in a place of astonishing beauty and very real danger. With only a rucksack, a phone with no signal and each other, the sisters must find a way to survive long enough to be found. Brogen Murphy's gripping debut is at once an edge-of-your-seat survival story and a vivid, hopeful vision of a rewilded future, threaded through with questions about our relationship with nature, the meaning of home and the fierce bond between sisters. Exciting, entirely believable and beautifully written.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
A confident independent read for ages 8 to 12, and a strong read-aloud for slightly younger listeners who can handle sustained peril. The survival danger and emotional stakes make it more suited to daytime reading than settling down at bedtime.
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- Best fit · 8–12
- Read aloud · 8–11
- Independent · 8–12
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
None
Reluctant-reader friendly
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Gift-buying
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: scary imagery.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
2 / 5 · Mild
Best for
- Survival adventure
- Eco fiction
- Strong sisters
- Nature lovers
- Page turner
Avoid if
- Sensitive to peril
- Wants gentle stories
Particularly good for children who are…
- Interested in science
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
Being accidentally left behind in a wilderness full of wolves and lynx is every survival-story reader's dream and nightmare, and Astrid and Indie have to use their wits and each other to make it. It is tense, fast and completely believable.
- Surviving danger
- Adventure and freedom
- Making a difference
Why parents love it
A beautifully written, genuinely gripping debut that won the Wainwright Prize for Children's Fiction. Beneath the survival tension sit real questions about nature, home and family, making it a rich springboard for conversation as well as a page-turner.
- Great writing
- Conversation starter
- Educational for adult too
About the author
Brogen Murphy.
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