With haunting echoes of the current refugee crisis this beautifully illustrated book explores the unimaginable decisions made as a family leave their home and everything they know to escape the turmoil and tragedy brought by war. This book will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

From the author: The Journey is actually a story about many journeys, and it began with the story of two girls I met in a refugee center in Italy. After meeting them I realized that behind their journey lay something very powerful. So I began collecting more stories of migration and interviewing many people from many different countries. A few months later, in September 2014, when I started studying a Master of Arts in Illustration at the Academy of Lucerne, I knew I wanted to create a book about these true stories. Almost every day on the news we hear the terms "migrants" and "refugees" but we rarely ever speak to or hear the personal journeys that they have had to take. This book is a collage of all those personal stories and the incredible strength of the people within them.

Shortlisted for Kate Greenaway Medal 2017 and Waterstones Children's Book Prize: Illustrated Books 2017 and Klaus Flugge Prize 2017.

"A book that explores the heart wrenching need to abandon one's home amid war." -"US News World Report"

Francesca is an Italian illustrator and graphic designer based in Switzerland. After she finished her studies In Caligari, the main city of her beloved Mediterranean island (Sardinia) she said goodbye to her family and her cat (Berta) and moved to Germany before and Switzerland after, in order to follow her dream and be able to work as an illustrator. She graduated in 2015 from the Lucerne School of Art and Design with a Master of Design, focusing on Illustration. "The Journey" is her first picture book.