H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is both a memoir and an extraordinary experience with one of nature’s most vicious predators, a goshawk.
As a child in England, Macdonald was fascinated by nature and spent hours observing wildlife, particularly birds. She fulfills a life-long dream of becoming a falconer when she acquires a goshawk whom she names Mabel. She begins to train the goshawk, taking tiny steps toward the day she can let the bird fly free to hunt, yet trust it to return to her.
The goshawk, a medium-large raptor, is bigger, fiercer and wilder than most hawks and is often considered the “true” hawk. Historically, goshawks have had relationships with humans, often as hunting partners.
Like any special-interest subject, falconry has its own vocabulary: wings are sails, claws are pounces, tail a train, when they wipe their beaks, they feak, when they frantically flap their wings, they bate, to mention only a few of the many terms of precision used by falconers.
When Macdonald’s father, a press photographer, suddenly dies, she is thrown into despair. In her writing she recalls the profound lessons she has learned from this patient man as she struggles with the pain of loss and the challenges of working with her hawk.
In parallel, the author frequently refers to the unpublished journal of T. H. White, a well-known English writer who was also a falconer, albeit an unsuccessful one.
H is for Hawk is a beautiful book on so many levels. Helen Macdonald fearlessly exposes her emotionally raw grief as she immerses herself in the complexities and challenges of falconry. I highly recommend H is for Hawk.