It won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award,[1] was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize[2] and has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

Whilst en route to a surprise location for his younger sibling's birthday, the parents are killed when a log falls onto the front section of the car, brutally and violently killing his parents in graphic detail.

When the police show up they repeatedly beat Samuel Blink because he was crying that his parents died.

Not long after, whilst rummaging through his aunt's attic, Samuel finds a book entitled Creatures of Shadow Forest.

He enters the forest in search of Martha and encounters multiple creatures described in his newfound book.