Ancell, a dreaming hedgehog, must face the terrors his dreams foretell if he is to rescue the orphan children kidnapped by the merciless pirate, Laughing Jack.
Though ever fearful he sails with the mysterious, all-knowing sea otter captain of Misty Dawn and her motley, often comical but ever determined animal crew in search of the pirates' lair. The sailors narrowly escape an island of evil, survive a Cape Horn storm and shipwreck on a deserted coast of Australia before, befriended by an aborigine boy, making a daring rescue through the leaping flames of a land set ablaze.
But it is Ancell alone who must face the traitor who has sided with the pirates if the children and his shipmates are to reach the safety of Misty Dawn, and when Laughing Jack is about to sink her, only the animals' ally, a peace-loving but valiant estuarine crocodile can save their ship.
In a fantasy world in which the animal sailors naturally mix with their human adversaries, Ancell's Quest is an exciting and uplifting adventure tale of loyalty and love overcoming treachery and hatred, and the heart-warming story of a timid hedgehog who summons the courage to follow his dreams.
