The Golden Mole

'A rare and magical book. I didn't want it to end.' Bill Bryson

'A total miracle.' Max Porter



'A witty, intoxicating paean to Earth's wondrous creatures.' Observer



'Rundell's pen is gold-tipped.' Sunday Times

** SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR **



The world is more astonishing, more miraculous and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings.



In this passionately persuasive and sharply funny book, Katherine Rundell tells us how and why.



A lavishly illustrated collection of the lives of some of the Earth's most astounding animals, The Golden Mole is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck - to reckon with the beauty of the world, its fragility, and its strangeness.

A swift flies two million kilometres in its lifetime. That's far enough to get to the moon and back twice over - and then once more to the moon. A pangolin keeps its tongue furled in a pouch by its hip, a Greenland shark can live five hundred years, a wombat once inspired a love poem.



Katherine Rundell grew up in London, Zimbabwe and Belgium. She is the youngest female scholar to be made a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Her award-winning and bestselling books for children have been translated into thirty languages and have multiple awards. Rundell is also the author of a book for adults Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old And Wise. She is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.