H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald
H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald
13 Rating(s)
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H Is for Hawk

Author: Helen Macdonald

Narrator: Helen Macdonald

Unabridged: 11 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/03/2015

Synopsis

The instant New York Times bestseller and multiaward-winning sensation, Helen Macdonald’s story of adopting and raising one of nature’s most vicious predators has soared into the hearts of millions of readers worldwide.When Helen Macdonald’s father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer captivated by hawks since childhood, she had 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 anger 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 journey into Mabel’s world. Projecting herself “in the hawk’s wild mind to tame her” tested the limits of Macdonald’s humanity.By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement, a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast, and the story of an eccentric falconer and legendary writer.Weaving together obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history, H Is for Hawk is a distinctive, surprising blend of nature writing and memoir from a very gifted writer.

About Helen Macdonald

Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, illustrator, historian, and naturalist, as well as 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. As a professional falconer, she assisted with the management of raptor research and conservation projects across Eurasia.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Greg on October 17, 2014

H is for Hawk This is Mabel. She is a goshawk. I didn’t know what a goshawk was before I started to read this book. I wasn’t actually sure I knew what a hawk was either. “Seriously, Greg? You are forty years old and you don’t know what a hawk is?” Well, sort of. I knew that it is a bird and that it is......more

Goodreads review by Will on June 19, 2022

The archaeology of grief is not ordered. It is more like earth under a spade, turning up things you had forgotten. Surprising things come to light: not simply memories, but states of mind, emotions, older ways of seeing the world.Helen MacDonald had suffered a great loss. In Anna Karenina, Tolst......more

Goodreads review by Steve on October 06, 2015

A is for Ascendant Prose to sweep you away B is for Birds With a passion for prey C is for Cambridge She’s one of their scholars D is for Dinero Nice royalty dollars E is for Elegiac So sad when her dad died F is for Flying Bird and soul, side by side G is for Grateful Susan, you pointed the way H is for Hawk A gr......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on February 04, 2019

Before starting in on my review, I took a quick look at what my fellow Goodreaders thought. I don’t always do that, but I was really curious this time. I am thinking I am in the minority in my feelings about this one. Which is all good - I just didn’t care for it. Usually when reading non-fiction, ev......more

Goodreads review by Snotchocheez on November 11, 2015

I certainly would not want to dissuade anyone from reading H is for Hawk, Cambridge professor Helen Macdonald's moving memoir of coping with the loss of her photojournalist father. Her twin academic disciplines of English and ornithology (specifically, falconry) provide the source of her occasionall......more

Quotes

“It sings. I couldn’t stop reading.” Mark Haddon, New York Times bestselling author

“Captivating and beautifully written, it’s a meditation on the bond between beasts and humans and the pain and beauty of being alive.” People

“One of the loveliest things you’ll read this year.” Entertainment Weekly

“Macdonald’s first sight of her bird…is one of the most memorable passages I’ve read this year or, for that matter, this decade. The heat of the moment is enough to melt grammar.” Time

“Macdonald’s beautiful and nearly feral book…is so good that, at times, it hurt me to read it. It draws blood, in ways that seem curative.” New York Times

“Helen Macdonald has written a spectacular memoir…She is also a marvelous narrator, evoking the open spaces of her Cambridge fields, the natural violence of a goshawk’s existence, and her crippling fear of mingling with society when she is so bereft. It is all there in her voice, along with a crisp English accent that is such a pleasure to listen to…She slightly lowers her voice to distinguish White’s story from her own journey out of sorrowful madness into a hopeful future. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“A well-wrought book, one part memoir, one part gorgeous evocation of the natural world, and one part literary meditation…The discovery of the season.” Economist (London)

“A talon-sharp memoir that will thrill and chill you to the bone…Macdonald has just the right blend of the scientist and the poet, of observing on the one hand and feeling on the other.” Daily Mail (London)

“What [Macdonald] has achieved is a very rare thing in literature—a completely realistic account of a human relationship with animal consciousness…It is a soaring performance, and Mabel is the star.” Sunday Times (London)

“A dazzling piece of work: deeply affecting, utterly fascinating, and blazing with love and intelligence…a deeply human work shot through, like cloth of gold, with intelligence and compassion.” Financial Times (London)

Awards

  • Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction
  • Costa Book Award
  • AudioFile Earphones Award
  • BookPage Top Pick
  • Kirkus Prize
  • Carnegie Medal for Literature
  • Publishers Weekly Best Book
  • Oprah Magazine Top 10 Book of the Year
  • Amazon Best Books of the Year
  • Amazon Editors' Pick
  • Library Journal Best Book
  • Washington Post Best Audiobook
  • AudioFile Best Voice
  • Chicago Tribune Best Book
  • NPR Pick
  • New York Times Top 10 Book
  • Boston Globe Book of the Year
  • Audible Best Audiobook
  • Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books
  • NPR’s Great Reads
  • Shelf Awareness Best Book
  • A Flavorwire Pick
  • San Francisco Chronicle Best Book
  • Men’s Journal Pick
  • BuzzFeed Books Pick
  • Portland Mercury Pick
  • Federalist Notable Book
  • High Brow Magazine Best Book
  • Paste Magazine Pick
  • Gizmodo Pick
  • ALA Listen List for Outstanding Audiobook Narration
  • Today Show Pick
  • Indies Choice Book Award
  • BookRiot Pick
  • Electric Literature
  • Literary Hub Pick
  • Slate Magazine Best Book
  • Granta Best Book
  • Wired Magazine Pick
  • iBooks bestseller
  • National Book Critics Circle Award
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