After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal’s trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal.

Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

There was once a wide wind-swept place, near to nowhere and close to forgotten...So begins this story that shows how, with a little love, even the most barren landscape can be a home to all sorts of life. Helen Ward, better known as one of our finest illustrators, has produced a poetic text, while Wayne Anderson has brought this fantastical world to life in his inimitable style.