When naturalist, author, and historian Helen Macdonald lost her father, she found an unusual outlet for her grief. Inspired in part by British author T. H. White, she adopted and trained a goshawk – a particularly fierce predatory bird. Macdonald’s memoir about her time with Mabel – set against the English countryside – is both poetic and insightful. You can see a Monitor interview with Helen Macdonald here.
