# H is for Hawk

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.

## Content

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.

## Reception

Upon release, H is for Hawk was generally well-received. On The Omnivore, based on British press, the book received an "omniscore" of 4.5 out of 5. According to Book Marks, primarily from American press, the book received a "rave" consensus (or "A+"), based on twenty-three critics: twenty "rave" and three "positive". The Bookseller reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale from "Top form", "Flawed but worth a read", and "Disappointing": Mail on Sunday and Financial Times reviews under "Top form" and Sunday Times and Guardian reviews under "Flawed but worth a read". In the May/June 2015 issue of Bookmarks, the book was scored 4.5 out of 5. The magazine's critical summary reads: "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)". On BookBrowse, the book was scored 5 out of 5 from "Critics' Consensus". 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.
The book reached The Sunday Times best-seller list within two weeks of being published in July 2014.
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." White was the author of The Goshawk (1951), an account of his own attempt to train a goshawk.
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." 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.
An extract of this book is part of the anthology of Edexcel English Language IGCSE in the new specification.

## In media
### Television

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

### 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. 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. Principal photography began in Cambridge in November 2024.

## Awards and honours

* 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize, winner
* 2014 Costa Book of the Year, winner.
* 2014 Duff Cooper Prize, shortlist.
* 2015 Thwaites Wainwright Prize, longlist.
* 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, shortlist.
* 2016 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, winner

## Translations

* Dutch: De H is van havik. Translated by Nico Groen and Joris Vermeulen. Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij. 10 September 2015. ISBN 9789023492412.
* Spanish: H de Halcón. Translated by Joan Eloi Roca. Barcelona: Ático de los Libros. 7 October 2015. ISBN 9788416222094.
* Italian: Io e Mabel. Ovvero l'arte della falconeria., lit. 'Me and Mabel. Or, the Art of Falconry'. Translated by Anna Rusconi. Turin: Einauldi. 26 January 2016. ISBN 9788806213381.
* Catalan: F de falcó. Translated by Ricard Vela. Barcelona: Àtic dels llibres. 16 March 2016. ISBN 9788416222087.
* Finnish: H niin kuin haukka. Translated by Irmeli Ruuska. Helsinki: Gummerus. 17 March 2016. ISBN 9789512402670.
* Polish: J jak jastrząb. Translated by Hanna Jankowska. Sękowa: Czarne. 11 May 2016. ISBN 9788380492974.
* Portuguese: F de falcão. Translated by Maria Carmelita Dias. Rio de Janeiro: Intrínseca. 8 June 2016. ISBN 9788580578140.
* Chinese: 鷹與心的追尋, romanized: Yīng yǔ xīn de zhuīxún, lit. 'Eagle and Heart's Quest'. Translated by Chen Jialin. Taipei: Xīn jīngdiǎn tú wén chuánbò yǒuxiàn gōngsī. 3 August 2016. ISBN 9789865824648.
* French: M pour Mabel, lit. 'M for Mabel'. Translated by Marie-Anne de Béru. Paris: Fleuve éditions. 25 August 2016. ISBN 9782823843903.
* Turkish: Atmacanın A’sı. Translated by Kıvanç Güney. Istanbul: Monokl. 26 October 2017. ISBN 9786055159641.
* German: H wie Habicht. Translated by Ulrike Kretschmer. Berlin: Ullstein. 17 November 2017. ISBN 9783548377353.
* Swedish: H som i hök. Translated by Meta Ottosson. Stockholm: Brombergs. 4 November 2022. ISBN 9789178092550.
* Lithuanian: V kaip vanagas. Translated by Kristina Aurylaitė. Vilnius: Baltos lankos. 20 September 2023. ISBN 9786094797804.