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HUMAN, ANIMAL

My debut novel

Since the death of his brother, veteran dairy farmer George has been struggling to keep the family business afloat. His troubles only worsen when zealous activists, armed with cameras and outrage, descend on his cowshed one morning to film content for their social media.


The fallout is brutal, especially when George’s youngest child, caught between loyalty and a burgeoning conscience, appears to side with the activists. As the family grapples with the real-world consequences of going viral, George’s elderly mother sleepwalks back to her youth and a secret she has carried with her for decades - one that could reshape their world, for better or worse.

Coming 20 February 2025

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WRITING: About

PRESS

Human, Animal is a formidable saga of British farming - spinning a moving tale of belonging, family, and land that brings country life into fierce reckoning with the modern world. As vital and sweeping as the countryside it enfolds us in.

Scott Preston, author of The Borrowed Hills  

A beautiful, clever debut, written with such tenderness for its muddled, struggling cast. Seth Insua balances polarised worlds - the young and old, the urban and rural, the expected and forbidden - to create a novel so full of generosity and insight.

Abigail Dean, author of Girl A and Day One

Human, Animal is a rich and compelling debut from a writer with a striking talent for weaving together complex narrative strands in order to create a sophisticated, symphonic whole. Seth Insua is one to watch.

Barney Norris, author of Five Rivers Met On A Wooded PlainTurning For HomeThe Vanishing Hours and Undercurrent

WRITING: Reviews

Empathetic, beautifully written, and deeply moving, Seth Insua's debut novel explores generational trauma and the strength it takes to truly understand those closest to us. A bridge across viewpoints in divided times, Human, Animal is a must-read.

Bonnie Burke-Patel, author of I Died at Fallow Hall

Compelling, conflicting and heartbreaking, Human, Animal had my heart pounding in my throat until I'd devoured every last page. A bold and unforgettable novel that not only keeps the reader gripped, but above all, teaches us what it is to be human. This book will win every single award. Insua is a revelation.

Awais Khan, author of No Honour and Someone Like Her

In his remarkable debut, Seth Insua achieves the feat of delivering on a compelling drama while also making the reader think and feel about some profound things: the status of human beings on this planet, the struggle to cross generational divides, the human stories around gender identity and sexuality, the enduring effects of conflict and prejudice. Timely, funny and moving, Human, Animal reminds us how powerful the novel can be in the hands of a true writer.

Charles Fernyhough, author of The Auctioneer and A Box of Birds

It isn’t an easy thing, taking huge, emotive subjects like animal rights, gender, aging, and war, and combining them into a single novel, but in Human, Animal, Insua makes it appear effortless. Alderdown, a small, family-run dairy farm, is doing its best to survive in the twenty-first century. But when animal welfare group LivestockAid run an exposé of the farm and its practices, much more becomes exposed, and a chain of events is put in motion that will change the lives of everyone involved. The characters through which we view the story – a dairy farmer; his second born, now a young adult; and a German prisoner of war – are beautifully drawn, deeply flawed, and absolutely real. Parallel narratives of present-day and wartime Alderdown exist in perfect symmetry, and weave together in a reminder that nothing exists on a binary, and the beauty and sorrow and nuance of being a human animal lies within the vast spectrum between black and white. I could not get enough of this beautiful book.

Eirinie Lapidaki, author of The Wives of Halcyon

In his poignant, lyrical debut novel, Insua reminds us that - beneath our painted faces and constructed facades - we are all mere bones and flesh and beating hearts. Human, Animal is about remembering our shared humanity that has the potential to reunite us under one sun in this complex, ever-changing, yet beautiful world.

James Hodge, Attitude magazine

I can't stop thinking about Human, Animal. Through beautiful, razor-sharp prose and seamless metaphor, Insua renders a heartbreaking but hopeful portrait of a family struggling to understand each other. A careful examination of all the anger, joy and pain that make up a family, that make us struggle and thrive, that make us uniquely human in a world that is quickly changing.

Curtis Garner, author of Isaac

WRITING: Reviews

One of the most thought-provoking books I've read this year, Human, Animal is a debut novel to watch out for. It's one of those books where offering a plot summary feels reductive because it's about so many things - family, queerness, acceptance, ageing, secrets, activism - and it's all handled with such empathy and poignancy. There are no easy answers offered to difficult questions, and the characters are beautifully rendered in all their complexity.

Naomi Kelsey, author of The Burnings

Blisteringly emotional, exploring the complex folds of family bonds. The last page left me haunted. Completely unmissable.

Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb

Sparse, stirring and unexpected, Human, Animal is a vivid novel about revelations and painful longing.

Misha Honcharenko, author of Trap Unfolds Me Greedily

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