H Is For Hawk

This book is a beautifully conceived memoir that revolves around a woman and her attempt at softening the devastation of her father's death by training a goshawk. With poetic writing, MacDonald eloquently portrays her ever-changing emotions in the presence of this hawk. From the bestial dance of the hunt to the philosophical questioning of the brutality of its consummation, MacDonald examines the frailty of our minds as well as our flesh. Anyone who has lost a close family member and/or trained an animal can relate to MacDonald's train of thought as she reflects on various aspects of man's relationship with nature and the surrounding world. Recommended By PaulJ, Powells.com

When Helen Macdonald’s father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer — Helen had been captivated by hawks since childhood — she’d never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk’s fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself “in the hawk's wild mind to tame her” tested the limits of Macdonald’s humanity and changed her life.

 Heart-wrenching and humorous, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement and a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast, with a parallel examination of a legendary writer’s eccentric falconry. Obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history combine to achieve a distinctive blend of nature writing and memoir from an outstanding literary innovator.

"In this elegant synthesis of memoir and literary sleuthing . . . Macdonald describes in beautiful, thoughtful prose how she comes to terms with death in new and startling ways." Publishers Weekly

"In this profoundly inquiring and wholly enrapturing memoir, Macdonald exquisitely and unforgettably entwines misery and astonishment, elegy and natural history, human and hawk." Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

"An inspired, beautiful and absorbing account of a woman battling grief — with a goshawk. . . . Writing with breathless urgency . . . Macdonald broadens her scope well beyond herself to focus on the antagonism between people and the environment. Whether you call this a personal story or nature writing, it's poignant, thoughtful and moving — and likely to become a classic in either genre." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"The art of Macdonald’s book is in the way that she weaves together various kinds of falling apart — the way she loops one unraveling thread of meaning into another. . . . What’s lovely about [it] is the clarity with which she sees both the inner and outer worlds that she lives in." Caleb Crain, New York Review of Books

"Helen Macdonald’s beautiful and nearly feral book, H Is for Hawk, reminds us that excellent nature writing can lay bare some of the intimacies of the wild world as well. Her book is so good that, at times, it hurt me to read it. It draws blood, in ways that seem curative." Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Breathtaking . . . Helen Macdonald renders an indelible impression of a raptor’s fierce essence — and her own — with words that mimic feathers, so impossibly pretty we don’t notice their astonishing engineering." New York Times Book Review (cover review)

Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, illustrator, historian, and naturalist, and an affiliated research scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. She also worked as a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. She is the author of a cultural history of falcons, titled Falcon, and three collections of poetry. As a professional falconer, she assisted with the management of raptor research and conservation projects across Eurasia.