Animal's Companion

Animal's Companion: People and their Pets, a 26,000-Year Love Story

A unique and compelling exploration of why humans need animal companions - from dogs and cats to horses, birds and reptiles - as seen through the eyes of bestselling author Jacky Colliss Harvey.

In The Animal's Companion, the acclaimed author of Red: A Natural History of the Redhead explores the human desire to share our everyday life with pets, a history that can be traced back to a cave in France where evidence has been unearthed of a boy and his dog taking a walk together, some 26,000 years ago.

From those preserved foot and paw prints, Colliss Harvey draws on literary, artistic and archaeological artefacts to sweep readers through centuries and across continents to examine how our relationships with our pets have developed, but also stayed very much the same. Through delightful stories of the most famous, endearing and sometimes eccentric pet owners throughout history, she suggests fascinating new insights into one of the most long-standing of all human love affairs.

Review: [A] lively exploration...Colliss Harvey has an eye for surprising details and a lovely way with a description. * Sunday Times *

An engaging, insightful consideration of how anthropomorphism, cruelty, egocentrism, empathy, realism and sentimentality have blended and blurred across centuries - teaching us a vast amount about animals, and

even more about ourselves.

* Irish Times *

both erudite and entertaining...Anyone who has ever loved an animal, which is surely most of us, will find it to be a profound, witty and moving account of that bond. * Glasgow Herald *

tremendously erudite...beautifully illustrated...for all its research into deeper matters, the real pleasure of The Animal's Companion lies in its stories. And they come thick and fast. * The Spectator *

Informative, irresistible, quirky and deeply perceptive. Anyone who has ever loved a creature should read this book. -- Sir Roy Strong

Colliss Harvey is an engaging narrator. She sets scenes and creates immediacy. She writes eloquently, sometimes humorously, often rousingly. * Independent on RED *

Engagingly informative. * Daily Mail on RED *

A bright and breezy cultural history. * Daily Telegraph on RED *

An entertaining romp through the meaning and mythology of red hair. * Sunday Times on RED *

A fascinating new book. * Guardian on RED *