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H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (Hardcover, 2014)
AZ Books (151)
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Language: English. Pages: 320. Publication Date: July 31, 2014. Publisher: Jonathan Cape. Author(s): Macdonald, Helen.
- Buy it nowH is for Hawk
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About this product
Product Information
Winner of the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize Winner of the 2014 Costa Book of the Year Award Shortlisted for the 2014 Duff Cooper Prize Longlisted for the 2014 Thwaites Wainwright Prize 'In real life, goshawks resemble sparrowhawks the way leopards resemble housecats. Bigger, yes. But bulkier, bloodier, deadlier, scarier, and much, much harder to see. Birds of deep woodland, not gardens, they're the birdwatchers' dark grail.' As a child Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the arcane terminology and read all the classic books, including T. H. White's tortured masterpiece, The Goshawk, which describes White's struggle to train a hawk as a spiritual contest. When her father dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk. She buys Mabel for u800 on a Scottish quayside and takes her home to Cambridge. Then she fills the freezer with hawk food and unplugs the phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this wildest of animals. 'To train a hawk you must watch it like a hawk, and so gain the ability to predict what it will do next. Eventually you don't see the hawk's body language at all. You seem to feel what it feels. The hawk's apprehension becomes your own. As the days passed and I put myself in the hawk's wild mind to tame her, my humanity was burning away.' Destined to be a classic of nature writing, H is for Hawk is a record of a spiritual journey - an unflinchingly honest account of Macdonald's struggle with grief during the difficult process of the hawk's taming and her own untaming. At the same time, it's a kaleidoscopic biography of the brilliant and troubled novelist T. H. White, best known for The Once and Future King. It's a book about memory, nature and nation, and how it might be possible to try to reconcile death with life and love.Product Identifiers
PublisherVintage Publishing
ISBN-139780224097000
eBay Product ID (ePID)209440894
Product Key Features
Book TitleH Is for Hawk
AuthorHelen Macdonald
FormatHardcover
LanguageEnglish
TopicWildlife
Publication Year2014
Number of Pages320 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height222mm
Item Width148mm
Item Weight519g
Additional Product Features
Title_AuthorHelen Macdonald
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom
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Ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- 31 May, 2017Most favourable review
h is for hawk
This is an interesting book. It describes the author's journey through grief following the death of her father. She works with a gosshawk and immerseses herself in this process. She compares her experiences with those of others using contrasting strategies to both train a gosshawk and deal with emotional difficulties. Whilst not a lighthearted text it is compelling readingVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 08 Feb, 2018Most critical review
Far too deep for far too long
I know the author wrote this book after the death of her father, but I thought it far too rambling and philosophical. I found myself just longing for her to get back to her time with her hawk which was very interesting. Some photos would have been a nice touch.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 15 Jan, 2021
Francis Bacon quote
'Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention'. This book is in the latter category. There is much to savour here.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 25 Oct, 2017
good book
excellent readingVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 14 Sep, 2022
You will be hooked
Makes interesting reading good storyVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 16 Jan, 2019
Great book, great service.
Great boom, great service.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 03 Aug, 2018
Magical
Beautifully written. Instantly hooks you in. Lyrical ,captivating and mesmeric. I Love this bookVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 13 May, 2020
H For Hawk
Excellent ReadingVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 18 Jul, 2019
A lyric story of loss
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 09 Nov, 2017
Very good interesting informative book
A very interesting book I couldn't put down.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
