This astonishing and deeply moving work contains some of the most beautiful and original prose I have ever encountered. Initially, “H is for Hawk” is a personal memoir of grief and loss; author Helen Macdonald embarks upon an all-consuming mission to train a dangerous and difficult bird of prey as a method for coping with the sudden death of her adored father. It becomes, also, an exploration of the strange life and works of fellow falconer T.H. White (“The Once and Future King”), a mediation on the beauty of flight, the puzzling relationship between humans and wild things, as well as falconry, change, life, death, depression, recovery, hope, friendship, and even the meaning of the landscape around us. I already love birds, but this work of uncommon beauty and insight forever changed the way I see them. Exquisite, passionate, and full of precise insight and vision, “H is for Hawk” recounts a powerful and profound personal journey.