H Is For Hawk

H Is for Hawk (2014) is British author Helen MacDonald’s award-winning memoir about her attempts to train a goshawk named Mabel in the wake of her father’s death. It is a memoir of grief, self-discovery, and the healing power of nature. MacDonald intersperses her descriptions of training Mabel with references to the memoirs of T.H. White, who writes about his own hapless attempts at falconry in the 1930s. The memoir was an instant bestseller and was named one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year. It featured on more than 25 other “Best Books of the Year” lists, including Time, NPR, O the Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and many more.

This book refers to the 2014 Grove Press paperback edition.

Content warning: This book depicts a historical figure who seeks to “tame” his same-sex attraction. This guide preserves the author’s intentions in depicting this outdated, harmful concept.

Summary

Soon after a trip to the Brecklands, north-east of Cambridge, England, academic and falconer Helen MacDonald learns that her father has died. She was close to her father, and the news is devastating. It was her father that taught her to look closely at the world around her, and who helped contribute to her love of nature and of falconry—that is, the training of birds of prey by human beings.