The Book of Beasts

Published by Chatto & Windus, August 2026

A modern bestiary with an ancient heart: meet twelve emblematic animals and restore your relationship with the natural world.

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.

What people are saying about The Book of Beasts:

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

'This beautifully written book considers the relationship between humans and animals through the whole of time and across the planet ... a work of scholarship and passionate personal engagement ... [it is] ultimately an examination of the place of human 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. Sollée, author of Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine

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 The Fairy Tellers

‘Beautiful and provocative. Anyone who loved animal stories as a child will find this book enchanting. Elizabeth Sulis Kim shows how to think differently about the creatures with whom we share our planet’ -- Henry Mance, author of How to Love Animals in a Human Shaped World

Written with clarity and quiet force, The Book of Beasts dissolves the boundary between human and animal without sentimentality or simplification. Elizabeth Sulis Kim invites us into a more attentive, more ethical way of seeing – one that could change how we inhabit the world -- Shakrukh Husain, author of A Restless Wind

‘Sprawling and immersive, Elizabeth Sulis Kim’s modern bestiary raises a challenge to anthropocentric and individualistic thinking by returning us to the primal origins of human and non-human animal relations. Drawing on a vast repository of stories and beliefs across human cultures, The Book of Beasts undertakes an un-othering of the animal, and a questioning of the distinction between wild and domesticated, beast and human. What emerges is a vast and complex history of human empathy with and human violence against the non-human creatures with whom we share our world. 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

‘In The Book of Beasts, the unique connection we have to other animals is explored through vital Indigenous wisdom alongside folklore and mythology from ancient to modern times… Elizabeth Sulis Kim nudges us to re-enchant the world by recognizing the magic and mystery of wild creatures... I found this book to be highly captivating, deeply emotional and beautifully nuanced’ -- Chelsea Wolfe, musician

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

“Riveting, insightful and folkloric, this book is a gift for those who seek to deepen their relationship to the natural world. THE BOOK OF BEASTS charms both the scholar and the mystic, taking the reader on a transformative journey into the wilderness, to meet the creatures who call it home. Within its pages, we become Elizabeth Sulis Kim’s familiar, uncovering animal truths, myths and legends at her side, each one revealed by her deft hand.” -- Rebecca Ferrier, author of The Salt Bind 

'Folklore, myth and magic collide beautifully in The Book of Beasts' -- Edward Parnell, author of Ghostlands

'The Book of Beasts is a compassionate, clear-sighted and gorgeously written bestiary for the twenty-first century, challenging us to rewild our relationship with animals and the stories we tell about them. 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. From whales to robins to pet goldfish, Kim resists the temptation to draw simplistic lessons from the creatures she depicts, painting a complex and thought-provoking portrait of the animal world which we all (humans included) cohabit. Reading this wise and magical manifesto has made me more alive to the possibilities of both epic and everyday beastly encounters, and I’ll be looking for white stags in every woodland I visit' -- Elizabeth Dearnley, author of Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae

The Art of Folklore

To be published by Frances Lincoln (Quarto) in March 2027