Best of All Worlds – The Times Children's Book of the Year 2025

When Xavier wakes up on the first morning of an enforced family weekend away with his pregnant stepmum and dad, he doesn't recognise where they are - it's as if the house has inexplicably been tra ...

When Xavier wakes up on the first morning of an enforced family weekend away with his pregnant stepmum and dad, he doesn't recognise where they are - it's as if the house has inexplicably been transported to the set of a video game, inside an impenetrable dome where the family have been 'donated' chickens, goats, wheat to help them survive. There is no trace of their mysterious captors and no way to escape. Three years later, he's sixteen and resigned to life without the internet, other people, let alone a girlfriend... when suddenly another family appears, one with vastly