Haslemere’s Colin Butfield has made a splash on the national stage with his book Ocean, co-written with Sir David Attenborough, which has been shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year.

The award is one of the most coveted in UK publishing, voted for by booksellers across the country rather than by panels or critics. Previous winners include Philip Pullman, Charlie Mackesy, Maggie O’Farrell and Katherine Rundell.

Butfield, co-founder of the documentary agency Studio Silverback and former Executive Producer of WWF’s Our Planet project, has lived in Haslemere for 18 years. His children attend school in Liphook, and he says the local response to Ocean has been genuinely moving.

“This nomination feels especially meaningful because it comes from booksellers,” he said. “It means that readers must be saying how much they are enjoying the book. To be chosen by the people who talk to readers every day is a real honour. And I’m incredibly proud of the Haslemere Bookshop — the team there are so knowledgeable and have been hugely supportive.”

Ocean is described as a story-led journey through eight distinct marine habitats, from coral reefs to the deep ocean. Rather than present a dense scientific overview, Attenborough and Butfield structured the book around personal stories, new discoveries, and the remarkable species and people connected to each environment.

“One of the inspirations for the book was simply looking at a map of the world,” he explained. “The land is full of detail – forests, deserts, mountains. The ocean, which covers 71 per cent of the planet, is shown as one block of blue. We wanted readers to see the ocean as many places, many worlds.”

Butfield and Attenborough met regularly throughout the writing process. “We didn’t want it to feel dry or academic,” he said. “It’s about the characters of the ocean — the marine life itself, but also the scientists, conservationists and communities working to protect these places.”

One of those stories takes place closer to home than many readers might expect. A chapter on the recovery of kelp forests includes the waters off Shoreham, where a major restoration project has seen marine life return to an area once heavily depleted.

“It’s lovely to write about somewhere only a couple of miles from home,” Butfield said.

But alongside its wonder, the book confronts the vulnerability of marine environments and the speed at which they have been damaged. Yet the message, Butfield says, is one of hope.

“If I could take readers anywhere, it would be Papahānaumokuākea in Hawai‘i – a vast protected marine area. Nature there is on steroids; it’s a wonderland. It shows what can happen in just a few decades if we stop harming a place and allow it to heal. The ocean can recover far faster than land if we give it space and protection,” he said.

“In more than two decades of working in this field, I’ve never seen awareness and engagement so high — especially from young people. Things are changing. The question is whether they’re changing fast enough. But the ocean shows us what’s possible.”

He hopes readers will be inspired to support stronger protection for UK waters, which currently rank among the least protected in Europe.

“If people come away from this book feeling awe, curiosity and hope — that would mean the world.”

Ocean is published by John Murray Press. More than 1,000 copies have been donated to public and school libraries. It is available now at The Haslemere Bookshop.