Helen Macdonald, Vesper Flights

In Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald gathers her best loved essays that explore the human relationship with the natural world along with new pieces in a collection both moving and frank, personal and political, meditating on notions of captivity, freedom, immigration, and flight.

“[E]xhilarating… No one describes the everyday natural world with greater power or beauty.” -Slate

“Dazzling… Ms. Macdonald reminds us how marvelously unfamiliar much of the nonhuman world remains to us, even as we continue to diminish it.” -Wall Street Journal

Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, illustrator and naturalist, and an affiliated research scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of the bestselling H Is for Hawk, as well as a cultural history of falcons, titled Falcon, and three collections of poetry, including Shaler’s Fish. Macdonald was a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, has worked as a professional falconer, and has assisted with the management of raptor research and conservation projects across Eurasia. She now writes for the New York Times Magazine.