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4.5

I normally don't go near a 'Misery Memoir'. And I know exactly how it feels to lose a much loved father. Do I really want to read about someone else's loss?

However, this book is astonishing.

It's hard to describe - in fact whilst I was reading it I tried to explain to a friend and fellow book lover what it was all about, and the words just wouldn't come. I know I won't do it justice.

I'll try again - it's a non fiction book about a woman, a Cambridge academic and falconer, who spirals into grief and depression following the death of her beloved father. Surrounding herself with 'self help' grief books she understands logically why she is feeling and acting the way she is. No partner, no children and at one time in the book no home or job, she is desperately lonely and alone.

Early on during this bleak period she buys a goshawk, and the book is largely about the training of this bird. It would be far too easy to say that the hawk fills up the gaps in Macdonald's life, but of course to a large extent it does - she has purpose once again.

Interwoven very cleverly into the book is the life of author T H White, a fellow falconer but also a lonely man living on the outskirts of society.

The whole book is beautifully written. The quality of the nature writing is outstanding and brings alive the flatlands surrounding Cambridge, an area I know very well. But Macdonald has skills as a biographer too. I doubt I will read many better books this year.