H is for Hawk - Occasion

Helen MacDonald's essay on her intense experience in taming the formidable goshawk as a cathartic means to overcome her father's death will interest readers beyond fans of nature writing. 'H is for Hawk' is a very experiential text which allows the reader to sense and understand the author's faltering efforts to master the venerable sport of falconry against the backdrop of British history at large. The English countryside as well as English folklore as exemplified by MacDonald's evocation of the Arthurian novelist T H White's own passion for birds of prey will interest Anglophiles prepared to consider other aspects of national identity beyond language or ethnicity. A fascinating read.