The Star Path

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.

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