Weidenfeld & Nicolson snaps up history of imaginary monsters from Lawrence

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired a “deliciously surprising” history of our imaginary monsters and what they can tell us about who we are from Natalie Lawrence.

Jenny Lord, executive publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Jessica Woollard at David Higham Associates. Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings will be published in August 2024.

The synopsis says: “We have always created and destroyed monsters. They give form to what we don’t wish to know or understand; to our anxieties and irrational terrors. They have helped us manage the extraordinary complexity of our minds and deal with the challenges of being human. In Enchanted Creatures, Natalie Lawrence delves into the dark histories of creatures we have imagined over 15,000 years of history: from strange beasts carved in Palaeolithic caves and hybrid snake women, to deep-sea leviathans and apocalyptic dino-monsters. She reveals what lies beneath the monstrous menagerie that has shaped our minds, our societies and how we see our place in nature. Understanding our monsters allows us to understand ourselves, perhaps the most important quest there is.”

Lord said: “Like the very best history storytelling, Enchanted Creatures offers so much more than a study of its central subject. Taking us on a deliciously surprising journey across 15,000 years of our strangest creations, Natalie Lawrence shows us something fascinating about ourselves – about our fears and desires and our place in the world.”

Lawrence added: “I’ve always been fascinated with how we see other animals and deal with our own animal natures. Creating monsters is something that only humans do: they reveal so much about who and what we are. Most urgently, they’re clues to how we reached the ecological knife-edge on which we now sit – and how we might escape it.”

Lawrence has a background in zoology, as well as a Masters and PhD in History and Philosophy of Science. She published her first book, Feathers and Eggshells (Brambleby Book), when she was a teenager, and is also the co-author, with Paco Calvo, of Planta Sapiens (The Bridge Street Press).