How Animals Heal Us

*A WATERSTONES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2026*

‘A moving, essential book . . . Nobody writes about Nature with more beauty and grace than Jay Griffiths’ Brian Eno

From celebrated author Jay Griffiths comes a unique and heartfelt insight into the healing nature of our relationship with animals

All animal-lovers instinctively know that animals heal. This book offers the evidence, drawing widely on scientific discoveries, history, and Indigenous knowledge.

Original, playful and wise, How Animals Heal Us explores how animals can have a role in every level of healing, from the individual to the collective, guiding us in how we might create societies that are healthier, fairer and kinder. From a pot-bellied pig who saved her owner's life to dogs who can smell cancer; from birdsong healing the hurt psyche to wolves teaching humanity ethics, How Animals Heal Us puts animals at the heart of a restorative vision of health.

‘Fascinating’ Observer

‘A fabulous and important book’ Joanna Lumley

‘A pure praise poem to the more than human world’ Jackie Morris

‘Animal magic in Jay Griffiths’s uniquely beautiful voice’ Laline Paull

‘Marvellous, urgently important and compellingly readable’ Charles Foster