Enchanted Creatures

In this fascinating book, Natalie Lawrence takes us on a riveting tour of the monsters which have long occupied human minds and cultures, and which reveal a huge amount about who we are and where we have come from – MERLIN SHELDRAKE, author of Entangled LifeGame of Thrones meets the Natural History Museum meets Grimm fairytales … fascinating, enthralling and definitely enchanting – CHRIS PACKHAMEnchanted Creatures is a thrilling, wide-ranging and profound exploration into the things of darkness that humanity would do well to acknowledge as parts of itself – CASPAR HENDERSON, author of The Book of Barely Imagined BeingsWide-ranging and full of passion for the pernicious and downright peculiar monsters we have dreamed up over thousands of years. It’s scary what the mind can conjure – DAISY DUNN, author of The Missing ThreadA thrilling, compellingly readable account of the biology of the creatures that squirm, crawl, gallop and prowl through your subconscious. Read it to know what you really are – CHARLES FOSTER, author of Cry of the WildEnchanted Creatures plumbs the depths of science, mythology, art and human psychology, inviting us to question everything we know about the nature of chaos and control, the monsters lurking in the darkness, in broad daylight and within our own minds. It expertly weaves together the threads of academia with spellbinding storytelling and beautiful illustrations. This is a book to read with the lights on – TIFFANY FRANCIS-BAKER, author of DARK SKIES: A Journey into the Wild NightMonsters are an emergent property of us, our society, our history; the way we secretly think about our place in the world. Lawrence explores this idea with wonderful skill and perfect pacing. I couldn’t put it down – JULES HOWARD, author of Infinite LifeEach of us carries within us a feared or favourite monster from our childhood, whether the beast under the bed or the shadow of a predator long since lost from the literal world. In her powerful book, Lawrence surfaces these imaginative and real creatures, and beautifully clarifies their importance to us. In so doing, she confronts us with existential anxieties that resonate in an age of climate grief, but she also shows us the hope to be found glinting between the scales – MELANIE CHALLENGER, author of HOW TO BE ANIMAL: A New History of What It Means to Be HumanBeautifully written, completely engaging, dazzlingly wide-ranging. Enchanted Creatures is underpinned by great intellectual brilliance, and a masterful command of detail and theory – JULIA LOVELLAn exhilarating romp through the bestiary of history by one of our finest guides of the creatural world. Ranging deftly from the Mesopotamian Epic of Creation to Godzilla reboots and therianthropic raves, Lawrence - like Joseph Campbell and Marina Warner before her - reveals the monstrous in the human and the humanity waiting to be rediscovered in the monster’s eyes – HUNTER DUKES, editor of PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEWYou don’t have to believe in monsters and myths to need them, and arguably doing so is part of what makes us human. Natalie Lawrence’s deliciously readable Enchanted Creatures is food for even the most rational mind and I absolutely devoured it – AMY-JANE BEERNatalie Lawrence has assembled a menagerie of monstrous creatures that could compete with the contents of any cabinet of curiosities … a wide-ranging book about spectacles, stories and hoaxes * DAILY TELEGRAPH *

Natalie Lawrence is a writer, illustrator and researcher. She has a degree in Natural Sciences and received a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University for her work on early modern exotic monsters. She published Planta Sapiens with Paco Calvo in 2022, and her first solo book, Feathers and Eggshells when she was a teenager. Her writing has appeared in New Scientist, Aeon Magazine, Atlas Obscura and BBC Wildlife, amongst others, and she has spoken for TEDX, BBC Radio and podcasts. She lives in London with her curiosity cabinet and the occasional atlas moth.