Animals — Geoff Ryman

ANIMALS tells the chilling tale of a family caught at the heart of a terrifying and transformative epidemic, in an astonishing fusion of beautiful writing and pure horror at its finest.Teddy has always been a special child. Frightened by other children, described as 'imaginative' by teachers, home-schooled by his mother. His closest friend was his father, until he left them for another man.Now, his closest friends are the family pets: the greyhounds his mother used to breed for racing; the three-hundred-pound family pig Charity and her best friend, a duck; and the stray cat he slowly befriended: Little One.His life has never been idyllic, but it was his, until he and his mother are struck down with an inexplicable fever. Over the course of the hot drought-stricken Oxfordshire summer, all of their animals fall sick. Whatever the mystery illness is, it's targeting animals... and it's not long before the animals start to target them...Praise for Geoff Ryman: One of our finest writers. - Lisa Tuttle in the GuardianRyman challenges his readers as he always has, with an enormous, defiant, heart - Paul Cornell, Hugo Award shortlisted author and screenwriterRyman offers an exceptional journey into the heart of human experience - Justina Robson, award nominated author