Jonathan Cape, 2014.
Review published Jan 2017.
The author, who is English, has had a lifelong interest in falconry. It has colored her education, her hobbies, her choice of friends -- all aspects of her being. She is also a talented poet and writer. After the death of her beloved father she acquired one of the larger hawks, a goshawk, and in this book tells about her life with the bird, whom she named Mabel. Threaded into her essays on her journey through grief and recovery are her comments on another falconer, who lived in the earlier years of the twentieth century: T. H. White, author of The Sword in the Stone, the Once and Future King, and other books. Her study of his experiences prevents the book from being too personal, and illustrates compelling corners of his life. I found her writing vivid and honest, and highly enjoyable.