H is for Hawk Summary

In the early spring of 2007, Helen Macdonald wakes early one morning to drive to the Brecklands, an area in England where goshawks are known to make their homes. A few weeks later, her father dies suddenly. Soon afterward, in her grief, she begins dreaming of goshawks. By the early summer, she has decided to adopt and train one of her own. Her efforts in this endeavor are haunted by those of British writer T. H. White, whose book The Goshawk details his own (failed) attempt to train his hawk, Gos, in the 1930s. Like Macdonald, White began his project in response to trauma and upheaval in his world.

Macdonald and her friend Christina drive to Scotland to meet the goshawk breeder, who hands over a fledgling bird to Macdonald. Back in Cambridge, where Macdonald has been a lecturer in the history of science for the past three years, she slowly begins to “man” the hawk, or accustom it to the presence of humans. As the bird grows more comfortable in her presence, Macdonald decides to name it Mabel, from the Latin word amabilis, which means “loveable.”

Over the summer, assisted by her friends Stuart, Mandy, and Christina, Macdonald mans Mabel and begins her “calling-off” training, which teaches the bird to return to the falconer’s hand at the end of a hunt. Macdonald and her family also make preparations for a memorial service to be held in her father’s honor by his colleagues at the London newspaper where he once worked.

Eventually, Mabel is ready to fly free. Macdonald quickly becomes addicted to the thrill of it. Flying Mabel makes Macdonald’s other griefs and concerns—her father’s death, her temporary joblessness, having to move—fall away. She begins to isolate herself from her friends and family and enters a deep depression.

As summer turns to fall, Macdonald realizes that she’s depressed and begins taking medication. Mabel becomes aggressive, which surprises Macdonald until she realizes that she hasn’t been paying enough attention and has been underfeeding her. To make up for this, Macdonald begins feeding Mabel more generously.

After spending Christmas with her mother in America, visiting friends Erin and Scott McNeff, Macdonald returns home to Mabel. The two only have a few weeks left before the molting season, during which Macdonald will entrust her bird to the care of a friend with an aviary in the countryside. She begins taking risks with Mabel, flying her at higher and higher weights (even though this increases the chance of her misbehaving or escaping). On several occasions, Mabel ignores Macdonald’s calls to return to her hand. On several occasions, Mabel and Macdonald poach pheasants from private property.

The night before Macdonald is supposed to take Mabel to the aviary, an earthquake unexpectedly strikes Cambridge. It surprises Macdonald but barely bothers Mabel. Macdonald realizes that the bird has helped her to move through some of her grief. In the morning, she takes Mabel to the aviary and says goodbye, knowing full well that the bird will have forgotten her by the time she returns to claim her at the end of the summer. This makes Macdonald sad, but she now knows she has the strength to face the absence.