num_pages: 336
description: People Pick of the Week Unfailingly precise and lovingly poetic. . . . Nature writing of the first order.  The Wall Street Journal A beautiful book; wise and sharp-eared as its subject. Robert Macfarlane One minute I was sipping my tea by the window. There was nothing but the palest edge of grey light and a wisp of steam from my cupand then a shadow swooped out of the air. With the lightest of scratches as if the dawn light was solidifying into life there it was perched like an exclamation mark on the balcony: an owl come to my home. Owls have existed for over sixty million years and in the relatively short time we have shared the planet with these majestic birds they have ignited the human imagination. But even as owls continue to captivate our collective consciousness celebrated British nature writer Miriam Darlington finds herself struck by all she doesnt know about the true nature of these enigmatic creatures.Darlington begins her fieldwork in the British Isles with her teenage son Benji. As her avian fascination grows she travels to France Serbia Spain Finland and the frosted Lapland borders of the Arctic for rare encounters with the Barn Owl Tawny Owl Long-eared Owl Pygmy Owl Snowy Owl and more. But when her son develops a mysterious illness her quest to understand the elusive nature of owls becomes entangled with her search for finding a cure.In The Wise Hours  Darlington watches and listens to the natural world and to the rhythms of her home and family inviting readers to discover the wonders of owls alongside her while rewilding our imagination with the mystery fragility and magnificence of all creatures.
language: English
title: The Wise Hours: A Journey into the Wild and Secret World of Owls
publisher: Tin House Books