Last Hope Highway by Rachel Delahaye – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Environmentalist tale, hope and friendship.
Children’s book title: Last Hope Highway.
Children’s author: Rachel Delahaye.
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: Troika Books.
ISBN: 9781912745548.
Recommended for children aged: 10+.
First published: July 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: Children who enjoy dystopian adventures exploring climate change, friendship, trust and hope.
To see the latest price or order, click on the book cover image. As an Amazon Associate, schoolreadinglist.co.uk earns from qualifying purchases.
Our review:
Kip is in his early teens. He’s not sure exactly how old, as he’s been in National Service working in the mines for years; he doesn’t know how many. At least that’s what he thinks. At the start of the story, we find him escaping from the mines and making a hazardous journey to London to find his parents. But this is not the London we know. Last Hope Highway is set in a dystopian future where war and climate change have all but destroyed Earth. The very rich have left for Mars, whereas for the rest, there is an off-planet city called Starlight. Some are able to afford a ticket, but for most it’s the Starlight Lottery, where every month thousands of people gather in hope of being the lucky ones to get a new life away from Earth.
When Kip can’t find his parents, he assumes that they have gone to Starlight to build a better life, and decides he will play the lottery and try to find them. This takes him to Starlight Highway, or Last Hope Highway as it’s more commonly known: a huge encampment where desperate people scramble to find tents and food while they wait for the monthly lottery draw. The people Kip meets on his journey and in the camp are vibrant, mysterious, dangerous, compassionate, treacherous and loyal… Kip’s challenge is to work out who he can trust and who he can’t. He spends time with the charismatic Jack, leader of a group of teens, including Ezra and his pet rat, and he ends up working in a diner for the fatherly Deano, alongside new friend Roxy and her robot creation Bitz. Allies become threats, enemies become allies, and Kip finds himself with friends and a home as the months between lottery draws pass.
It’s Roxy who introduces Kip to the Greenstays, a group dedicated to searching for signs that Earth is healing. Greenstays refuse to leave Earth, instead fighting to preserve what’s left of her. Kip spends many hours on lookout, looking for porpoises, a sign that fish have returned and the seas are becoming clean. But as long as he still intends to leave for Starlight, he can never become a Greenstay. As Kip discovers more about his own past, and about the Earth upon which so many have given up hope, he has to reassess his plan to win the Starlight Lottery and find his parents.
The story offers us a warning about climate change and the neglect of our planet, with clear messages about respect and love for nature. The storyline about Ezra and his rat is genuinely heartbreaking, but Ezra also highlights the special relationship between humans and animals that can exist when we let it. The encampment is painted as a place of desperation and poverty, but also hope and wisdom, and it is likely that our thoughts are being directed towards the many camps of different kinds we see in our current world that are full of both displacement and community.
As Kip puts it:
Happy Ever After wasn’t a place that told you to be happy in flashing lights; Happy Ever After was a place you filled with hope. It was where you made it.
Our verdict:
Last Hope Highway is a book driven by vibrant characters, weaving the mystery of what has happened to Kip into a dynamic story about hope, friendship and the value of this Earth.
Many thanks to Troika Books for the review copy.
To order a class set of this book, please click below to order via uk.bookshop.org, an organisation that supports local bookshops, or Amazon.co.uk.
Buy from UK.Bookshop.Org Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Disclosure: If you buy books using the buttons above, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops; as an Amazon Associate, schoolreadinglist.co.uk earns from qualifying purchases.
Browse our Books for Year 5 list.
