'Part memoir, part beginner’s guide, part self-help, but wholly wonderful book … It's a real treat to read these nuggets of winged wisdom' MAIL ON SUNDAY

‘A small masterpiece, written with heart, self-belief and wisdom. Wonderful!’ PAUL THEROUX

A true story of Bird and writer Candida Meyrick, set on Anglesey, and a fable for us all to find a way to fly.

The twelve-week-old Harris Hawk, Sophia Houdini Whitewing – aka Bird – is trained over the following months by the author and her children to be most herself: a skilled hunter and dazzling aerial gymnast, whose flights enrapture the family and set the author on a deepening love affair with life on the wing.

Working with her Harris Hawk over the following years reveals a new world: confronting mortality daily, moving through a liminal landscape, part sky-, part earth-bound. And every day’s hunting brings a new life-lesson. Bird opens up a way of being that is everything the author most longs to be: courageous, compassionate, independent, full of joy – free as a bird