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The Book of Beasts

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What to expect

A modern bestiary with an ancient heart: meet twelve emblematic animals and restore your relationship with the natural world, from the editor of Cunning Folk.

The bear deities, Artio and Artaius, who’ll rise from sleep; the salmon of wisdom who gifts understanding of the universe’s past, present and future; the Lion Man carved 40,000 years ago. Join Elizabeth Sulis Kim as she travels across the globe and through time, from our deep past into the future, bringing together the animals which have captivated us for millennia.

Steeped in folklore, mythology, magic and religion, The Book of Beasts tells the story of our shapeshifting relationships with animals, from reverence to persecution, friendship to fear, awe to indifference. It asks us what we actually know about the creatures we share this world with – and offers us a different way of living together.

'Folklore, myth and magic collide beautifully' EDWARD PARNELL, author of Ghostland
'Beautifully written' RONALD HUTTON, author of The Witch
'Immersive, enchanting and exquisitely written' KRISTEN J. SOLLEE, author of Cat Call
'Powerful and beautifully written' MELANIE JOY, author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows

© Elizabeth Sulis Kim 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

Wild and strange, and full to the brim with tales from the deep past, offering a meaningful connection to our ancestors. It is a reminder of what we came from and how we might move forwards into the future; a brighter future filled with beasts. An essential for any bestiary or folklore fan
LALLY MACBETH, author of The Lost Folk
Folklore, myth and magic collide beautifully in The Book of Beasts
EDWARD PARNELL, author of Ghostland
This beautifully written book considers the relationship between humans and animals through the whole of time and across the planet... [it is] ultimately an examination of the place of humans in the world, past and present
RONALD HUTTON, author of The Witch
Immersive, enchanting, and exquisitely written, The Book of Beasts is a clarion call to rethink and rewild our relationship with animals. Prepare to be changed by this magical book
KRISTEN J. SOLLEE, author of Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine
In this powerful and beautifully written book, Elizabeth Sulis Kim explores humanity’s relationship with animals across history and cultures. She weaves together archaeology, mythology, religion, ecology, and psychology to show how the stories we create about animals shape our understanding of humanity, and how changing those stories could help change our world
MELANIE JOY, PhD, bestselling author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows
Dazzling in range and tender in purpose, The Book of Beasts is an invitation to remember our kinship with the living world. Elizabeth Sulis Kim asks urgent questions with a scholar's rigour and a storyteller's heart. It is both confounding and humbling to consider how often humans forget that we belong to nature too
HOLLIE STARLING, editor of Bog People
The Book of Beasts is epic and wise, but also tender and sensitive. From prehistory to the present, through myth and magic to religion and literature, this captivating and highly-original book explores the immense importance of animals across diverse human cultures. With profound reflections about the power of beastly thinking, The Book of Beasts is essential reading for animal lovers everywhere
THOMAS WATERS, author of Cursed Britain: A History of Witchcraft and Black Magic in Modern Times
This is a beautiful book, and an important one. Elizabeth Sulis Kim reawakens an older way of looking at animals, through stories of reverence and resonance that ask us to reconsider how we interact with the animal kingdom. From stepping among temple rats in Rajasthan to walking the Great Bear Rainforest and making eye contact with whales, the author travels a fascinating pathway across thousands of years of folklore that always has an eye on the world around us today
NICHOLAS JUBBER, author of Monsterland
Sprawling and immersive... With great insight and compassion, Elizabeth Sulis Kim makes a case for storytelling as a potent ecological tool that might allow us to cultivate a more sustainable and holistic relationship with the natural world
ROWE IRVIN, author of Life Cycle of a Moth
A compassionate, clear-sighted and gorgeously written bestiary for the twenty-first century... Kim’s rigorously researched book weaves together a wealth of folkloric and cultural knowledge with a naturalist’s eye for detail, and should be required reading for the Anthropocene
ELIZABETH DEARNLEY, author of Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae
Author Elizabeth Sulis Kim
Narrator Helen Keeley
Duration 9 hours and 46 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529998856
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Folklore, myths and legends, Mythical and legendary beings, monsters and creatures, Social and cultural history, Wildlife: general interest
Availability AU, GB, IE

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