H Is for Hawk Helen Macdonald

H is for Hawk is a 2014 memoir by British author Helen Macdonald. It won the Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book of the Year award, among other honours.

H is for Hawk tells Macdonald's story of the year they spent training a Eurasian goshawk in the wake of their father's death. Their father, Alisdair Macdonald, was a respected photojournalist who died suddenly of a heart attack in 2007. Having been a falconer for many years, they purchased a young goshawk to help them through the grieving process.

Upon release, H is for Hawk was generally well-received. On The Omnivore, based on British press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 4.5 out of 5 .[1] According to Book Marks, based on mostly American press reviews, the book received a "rave" consensus, based on twenty-three critic reviews: twenty "rave" and three "positive".[2] On May/June 2015 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (4.5 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary saying, "Already well on its way to classic status, H Is for Hawk reminds us that "transformation of our docile or resigned lives can be had if we only look up into the world" (Washington Post)".[3][4] On BookBrowse, the book received a from "Critics' Consensus" and for the media reviews on a rating scale out of five: Financial Times, The Bookseller, The Daily Mail, The Economist, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and Kirkus Reviews reviews under five and Publishers Weekly review under four and Library Journal review under three.[5]

The book reached The Sunday Times best-seller list within two weeks of being published in July 2014.[6]

In an interview with The Guardian, Macdonald said, "While the backbone of the book is a memoir about that year when I lost my father and trained a hawk, there are also other things tangled up in that story which are not memoir. There is the shadow biography of TH White, and a lot of nature-writing, too. I was trying to let these different genres speak to each other."[7] White was the author of The Goshawk (1951), an account of his own attempt to train a goshawk.[8]

Kevin Jackson, writing for Literary Review, drew further comparisons between Macdonald and White, in that she resembles him "in her gluttony for words both homely and exotic, their associations and histories."[9] Macdonald's rich vocabulary is distinguished by her passion for precision, Jackson wrote: "Her eye is every bit as educated as her mind."

Judges of the Samuel Johnson Prize specifically highlighted that marriage of genres as one of the reasons for selecting H is for Hawk as the winner.[7]

An extract of this book is part of the anthology of Edexcel English Language IGCSE in the new specification.

Television

In "H is for Hawk: A New Chapter", part of BBC's Natural World series in 2017, Macdonald trained a new goshawk chick.[10]

Film adaptation

The film rights for the memoir were acquired by Lena Headey in April 2015, with intentions to star and produce in the adaption in conjunction with Plan B Entertainment.[11][12][13] In February 2024, it was announced Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson were cast in the film, along with Philippa Lowthorpe named as the director and Emma Donoghue as scriptwriter. Film4 Productions will also co-produce and co-finance the adaptation with Plan B.[14] Principal photography began in Cambridge in November 2024.[15]

• 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize, winner[16]
• 2014 Costa Book of the Year, winner.[17]
• 2014 Duff Cooper Prize, shortlist.[18]
• 2015 Thwaites Wainwright Prize, longlist.[18]
• 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, shortlist.[19]
• 2016 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, winner[20]

• Falconry training and technique

1. ^ "H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald". The Omnivore. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
2. ^ "H is for Hawk". Book Marks. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
3. ^ "H is for Hawk". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
4. ^ "H is for Hawk". Bibliosurf (in French). 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
5. ^ "H is for Hawk". BookBrowse. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
6. ^ Cambridge News, Interview: Cambridge author Helen Macdonald on grief, goshawks, and her best-selling book, H is for Hawk Archived 2015-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge News, 7 September 2014.
7. ^ a b Stephen Moss, Helen Macdonald: a bird’s eye view of love and loss, The Guardian, 5 November 2014.
8. ^ Jameson, Conor (January 2014). "A place for the misfit". British Birds. 107 (1): 2–3. ISSN 0007-0335.
9. ^ Jackson, Kevin (1 August 2014). "On Broken Wings". Literary Review.
10. ^ "H is for Hawk: A New Chapter". BBC. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
11. ^ "Lena Headey has bought the film rights to the brilliant H IS FOR HAWK by Helen MacDonald. Click for more". Knight Hall Agency. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
12. ^ Shute, Joe (8 October 2017). "Helen Macdonald on life after H is For Hawk and the joy of living alone at 47". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
13. ^ Egner, Jeremy (5 July 2017). "Lena Headey, Cersei in 'Game of Thrones,' Has Her Own Power Moves". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
14. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (9 February 2024). "Claire Foy & Brendan Gleeson To Star In 'H Is For Hawk' For Plan B & 'Poor Things' Things Backer Film4; Protagonist Launches EFM Buzz Pic". Deadline. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
15. ^ Findlay, Cait (5 November 2024). "Movie featuring Netflix star begins filming in Cambridge". Cambridge-News. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
16. ^ Clark, Nick. "Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction: Helen Macdonald wins with 'H is for Hawk'". The Independent. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
17. ^ "Helen Macdonald wins Costa Book of the Year 2014". BBC News. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
18. ^ a b "'H is for Hawk' shortlisted for the 2014 Duff Cooper Prize, longlisted for the 2014 Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2015". The Marsh Agency. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
19. ^ "2016 Carnegie Medals Shortlist Announced". American Libraries Magazine. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
20. ^ "Meilleur livre étranger | Book awards | LibraryThing". www.librarything.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.