New Release

The Star Path

Name: The Star Path
Brand: Penguin Random House NZ
SKU: 9781776951406
Price: 29.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

A Return to the Realm of The Whale Rider

By Witi Ihimaera Smiler

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Brief Description

A young whale searches for the whale rider's heir and a teenager takes an epic voyage to Antarctica with a fleet of waka hourua to claim his lost inheritance, in this breathtaking return to the world of global hit The Whale Rider, over thirty years on.... Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

$29⁹⁹

Elsewhere:

~~$35⁰⁰~~

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The Star Path

$29⁹⁹

Elsewhere:

~~$35⁰⁰~~

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Description

From the internationally acclaimed author of The Whale Rider comes a novel about the pathways that guide us home.

Sixteen-year-old Teva has grown up between worlds. Raised in France, he knows almost nothing of his father's Polynesian heritage — only that a family rift has kept them apart. But when his astonishing talent is discovered by a circus master, Teva's journey leads him across the Pacific and towards a destiny older than memory.

Deep within Antarctica's treacherous ice mazes, the royal tribe of Mysticeti whales fears their ancient leader has brought them there to die. Decades earlier, he stranded them on the east coast of Aotearoa. As winter closes in, they must find the whale rider's heir, the only one who can lead their chief back to warmer waters. But nobody knows who that is, let alone where they can be found.

Sweeping from France to French Polynesia, Aotearoa and Antarctica, The Star Path is a breathtaking new novel in which myth and reality, past and present, meet in an unforgettable story of identity, belonging and hope.

"A luminous joining of myth and contemporary culture."
- Kirkus Reviews, on The Whale Rider

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781776951406

Publisher: Penguin Group (NZ)

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 September 2026

Country: New Zealand

Imprint: Penguin Books (NZ)

Audience: Children

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 1.0mm

Width: 1.0mm

Height: 1.0mm

Weight: 1g

Pages: 288

Collections

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About the Author

Witi Ihimaera is a world-renowned author of many notable novels, libretti, stage and screen plays, collections of short stories, children's books and works of non-fiction. Described by Metro magazine as 'Part oracle, part memoralist,' and 'an inspired voice, weaving many stories together', his best-known novel is The Whale Rider, which was made into a hugely, internationally successful film in 2002. His works have received many awards over the years, and the writer has received numerous career awards for his contribution to literature, including the inaugural Star of Oceania Award, University of Hawaii, a laureate award from the New Zealand Arts Foundation 2009, the Toi Maori Maui Tiketike Award 2011, and the Premio Ostana International Award, presented to him in Italy 2010. In 2004 he became a Distinguished Companion of the Order of New Zealand, in 2017 France made him Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the same year he received the NZ Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement. He considers the Maori arts award, Te Tohutiketike a Te Waka Toi, his highest honour. In recent years he has been mastering te reo Māori and his next goal is to produce original works written in that language.

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Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer

Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Māori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...

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The Whale Rider

Witi Ihimaera's timeless novel bound in a beautifully crafted, clothbound hardback edition for the Penguin Modern Aotearoa Classics series A stunning foil-stamped hardback cover makes this edition of Witi Ihimaera's classic novel a must have for any serious collector's library. 'As timely and as relevant as it was nearly forty years ago.' Shilo Kino In this landmark novel that won...

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