Sydney, 26 January 2019

Penguin Random House congratulates Richard Harris and Craig Challen who have been honoured as the 2019 Australians of the Year in recognition of their enormous contribution to the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, which saved the lives of 12 young Thai soccer players and their 25-year-old soccer coach last July.

Into the Dark: The Dramatic Story of the Thai Cave Rescue, to be published in late 2019 by Penguin Random House, is the first-person account from Dr Harris, Dr Challen and Coach Ekkapol Chantawong of the breathtaking rescue that captured the world. Its publication is the first time we will hear directly, and comprehensively, from those most intimately involved. For seventeen days, the world watched and held its breath as the Wild Boar soccer team and their coach were trapped deep in a cave in Thailand. Marooned there under water following a freak storm, they were rescued, one-by-one, against almost impossible odds by a team led by Harris and Challen.

Into the Dark details this remarkable story as it played out day by day, in alternating first-person narratives from Harris and Challen, along with the account from Coach Chantawong and the boys trapped inside the cave. Into the Dark will be published in all formats in ANZ in late 2019.