Macmillan Children’s Books to publish 're-imagined' edition of Tree’s Wilding

Macmillan Children’s Books has acquired Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back – An Illustrated Guide by Isabella Tree and illustrated by Angela Harding. The publisher describes the book as “a highly illustrated reimagining” of the original title, Wilding: The Return of Wildlife to a British Farm, published by Picador, which was shortlisted for the Wainwright Book Prize in 2019.

Associate publisher Gaby Morgan acquired world rights for the text from Philippa Sitters and David Godwin at David Godwin Associates, and world rights for the illustrations were acquired directly from Angela Harding.

Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back – An Illustrated Guide will be a large format hardback gift book, scheduled for publication in March 2024. It is illustrated in full colour with lino cuts, watercolours and photographs.

The book encourages the young reader to slow down and observe the natural world around them, and start to understand the connections between species and habitats, and the huge potential for life right on their doorstep.

It tells the story of Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell’s trailblazing and influential rewilding experiment at their Knepp estate, explaining what happens when you stop intensive farming and hand the land back to nature. It highlights Knepp’s ecological success stories such as the reintroduction of storks to mainland Britain for the first time in 600 years and the spontaneous return of the large tortoiseshell butterfly, which had been officially extinct in Britain for half a century.

It includes maps, timelines and rewilding activities for the reader to do at home – from growing pollinator-friendly flowers on your windowsill to creating an animal superhighway in the back gardens on your street.

Morgan said: “I am a huge admirer of Isabella and Charlie and their inspiring and revolutionary rewilding experiment at Knepp and loved the original book. It has been the greatest joy to work with Isabella to reimagine the book in this fully illustrated format.

"I knew that Angela Harding would be the perfect illustrator for the project – her art has an emotional pull and narrative quality which chimes perfectly with the story of Knepp. It has been such a pleasure to work with her, and her artist’s view, based on a number of seasonal stays at Knepp, is stunning. What a beautiful and necessary book for a generation facing unprecedented environmental challenges.”

Tree said: “Never has there been a more crucial time to engage the younger generation in nature and its recovery, and I hope this book will be a source of optimism and inspiration. What we’ve learnt from the last joyous 20 years of rewilding at Knepp is that nature bounces back in the most spectacular way, if we let it.

"Every one of us can make a difference. Together we can learn to be a keystone species, to bring wildlife back into our lives again.”

Harding said: “The artwork I have created for this new book is a direct response to being spellbound by the beauty of Knepp. Many of the lino cuts were made while I was there on site, drawing directly onto the lino and cutting it spontaneously as the images I saw were still fresh in my mind. Knepp is a place of hope, it demonstrates the power of nature and how swiftly it can regain a foothold. I hope my artwork conveys something of the emotions I feel about the countryside and a love of nature that we can all share.”

Sam Smith, publisher at Macmillan Children’s Books, added: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with Isabella Tree following her success with Picador, and to bring the Knepp story to a new generation of readers with Angela Harding’s stunning artwork.”