CANONGATE BOOKS

Beastly is the 40,000-year story of our changing kinship with the animal world - from the smallest microbe to the largest creature that ever lived.

Eleven-year-old Evie has a talent. A SUPERTALENT. A talent that can let her HEAR the thoughts of an elephant, and make friends with a dog and a sparrow. The only problem is, this talent is dangerous. VERY dangerous. That's what her dad says.

Kathleen Lonsdale was a groundbreaking chemist who was instrumental in developing the science of crystallography. She was also a midlife convert to Quakerism who campaigned for peace and prison reform.