Human, Animal is Seth Insua's debut novel. It's set on a dairy farm which is 'attacked' by a group of vegan activists who post public social media videos decrying what they say as poor animal welfare. George, the owner of the farm, is struggling with keeping the farm going, and with keeping his family together. It took me a while to get into the novel but I'm glad I stuck with it as I enjoyed the characters and the underlying themes of identity, family and change.

Set in the English countryside, a struggling dairy farm in present day is rocked by a families inability to connect and understand each other whilst a vegan activist group begin to invade and vilify the farm’s practices and conditions alongside the exploration of the journal of a German prisoner of war in World War Two. A blistering novel about the nuances of acceptance, modernity, empathy, and the need for self discovery, Seth Insua creates a vivid microcosm of generations young and old struggling to bridge the gap between cultural views and values. A beautiful exploration of family, identity, and the idea of inherited values.

An interesting read, it took a little bit of time to get into the novel but I was pleasantly surprised by the book overall. A heartwarming story that will stay with me for a while.

A heartwarming story of coping with and accepting change, no matter how things have always been done.. it took me a while to get into this, and I was a little unsure at first, expecting this to be one big whinge about the farming industry. It really isn’t. My second ever book featuring the use of singular ‘they’ and it was incredibly refreshing!