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H Is For Hawk
- Narrated by: Helen MacDonald
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
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H Is For Hawk
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Summary
Winner of the 2014 Costa Book of the Year Award
Winner of the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize.
Costa Biography Award Winner 2014
'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 £800 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.
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What listeners say about H Is For Hawk
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- richard
- 03-01-15
This is a book worth buying for friends.
After listening to this book, it has moved me to want to have conversations with others on the different subjects & levels it covers. I've decided to buy more copies to give to my friends, with the hope that these conversation will happen.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Polly
- 17-06-15
Lovely book, annoying narration
What did you like best about H Is For Hawk? What did you like least?
The story really is lovely - charming, warm, thoughtful; MacDonald write beautifully. Sadly the narration hugely lets it down.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
The narration was simply too singsongy, which became irritating. I found it very difficult to focus in the story rather than her voice.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Andrew
- 11-04-16
Enjoyable
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Great journey and I learnt a lot too. Was a little disappointed that this was from an experienced falconer and not someone with less experience, but beautifully written and a great listen. Read very well too.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ms
- 16-03-15
enchanting
beautifully written and read. It soars and glides between hawks and human life. loved it
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian Russell
- 23-12-21
A truly wonderful book
I heard about Helen after hearing her on Desert Island Discs just recently and wanted to know more about this book.
Woohhhh, I was not disappointed, having flown a Harris Hawk myself some years ago, so much of this story came back to me, her delivery is excellent and so heartfelt. I can see why this won so many accolades, it is a beautiful story written/told from the heart. She is a lady I would love to meet. Truly a book any nature lover will learn a lot from and one I will read again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sydney
- 29-12-14
Lives up to the hype
I was hearing praise for this memoir from all quarters and finally gave in and spent a credit. It's a worthy winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize and all its other accolades- poetical, funny, mesmerising, full of insights and information. If you're looking for a book that seizes you by the lapels it might not be for you; it can be cool, standoffish, un-snuggly--a bit like its titular hawk. After the first hour I at least was completely hooked and it brought a rewarding mood of contemplation to my work week. Perfectly read by the author, who unlike many writers sounds like a professional reader (in fact, just realised to my surprise that it was read by the author, in writing this review!). Highly recommended for bookish lovers of nature.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-03-15
Beautifully written and read
An unusual autobiography which cleverly entwined three stories in one: the author's, the hawk's and that of T.E. White. There are fascinating insights into all three and the writing is beautifully sculpted. The author reads her book exceptionally well. At times, I found the self-analysis slightly irritating but this is a book I will remember and will enjoy talking to friends about.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- VJ
- 26-05-22
Brilliant narration and journey through grief
such a deeply felt and brilliantly read work by the author. And for me who did not even have a peripheral perception of Hawks and falconry, an inspiring education.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Abby
- 27-01-15
Heartbreakingly beautiful
I haven't enjoyed a book this much for a long time and I suspect H is for Hawk will become part of the pantheon of my favourites ever. A sad, funny, uplifting story with some of the most evocative writing ('cappuccino samurai' is a sheer joy) - Helen Macdonald is a master craftsman and a superb narrator.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tim Vicary
- 25-02-15
Unusual hypnotic story
What made the experience of listening to H Is For Hawk the most enjoyable?
Helen MacDonald has a beautiful, hypnotic voice which is a pleasure to listen to. The story itself is fascinating, combining the training of a goshawk, about which I knew nothing, her grief at the death of her father, and the comparison of her own experience with that of T.H. White. White's book, The Once and Future King was once a favourite of mine; but I knew nothing about his personal history, or the fact that he too had trained a goshawk before writing that book. So I learnt a great deal about several different things which were new to me, and the emotions involved in them.
What other book might you compare H Is For Hawk to, and why?
I suppose Ring of Bright Water, or Tarka the Otter. Both like this, unique stories about the relationship between animals and humans - both referred to in this book too.
Any additional comments?
This book could become a classic.
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2 people found this helpful