H is for Hawk: a comparison between the book and the film, and the legacy of Helen Macdonald

H is for Hawk, written by Helen Macdonald was a bestseller when it was published in 2014. The book crosses several genres: nature writing, memoir and biography. It is a highly personal account of Macdonald’s journey from grief after the sudden death of her father. Obsessed by raptors from childhood, Macdonald had worked with falcons, but following their father’s death, this interest/obsession turned toward a very different and difficult raptor, the goshawk. They also returned to a book they had read many years before, The Goshawk  (1951), by T. H. White. White was a teacher and a closet homosexual in the 1930s and his book described his attempts to train a goshawk, during a period of great turmoil in his life. In a sense he was trying to tame what he regarded as the wild impulses within himself. Macdonald was also in crisis and the hawk became their path out of the darkness at a time when they could not relate to human beings. ‘The hawk was everything I wanted to be: solitary, self possessed, free from grief and numb to the hurts of human life’ (85).

Descriptions of the hawk and details of their growing relationship with the creature dominate the book. There were also many digressions, reflecting on T. H. White, his life and his hawk training methods; these digressions felt intrusive at times. Most powerful for me were the detailed descriptions of the hawk and of their growing intense relationship.

Macdonald’s writing is very detailed and vivid, with wonderful descriptions of the hawk, its magnificent plumage and sharp, piercing eyes. There is also much detailed description of the Cambridgeshire countryside. The film of the same name which was released in 2025 captures the lavish colours and scope of the landscape, but in a more romanticised form. The close up shots of the hawk are dramatic and disconcerting; its piercing eyes glare out from the screen. But I was surprised how uncomfortable I felt seeing this magnificent creature humbled in some of the urban and indoor scenes, sharply contrasting with shots of the hawk soaring free in the wild or the close ups of it swooping mercilessly onto its prey.

Though the film lacked the subtle nuance of Macdonald’s writing, Claire Foy played the role with great sensitivity and the most moving moments in the film involved her close interaction with the hawk. There were also haunting glimpses of her father throughout, played beautifully by Brendan Gleeson. Other characters in the film seem more peripheral. The film dispensed with the details about T. H. White, which I did not miss. Foy movingly showed us the disintegration and descent into grief. What was missing for me was the journey out of grief. But, all in all, the film was a faithful adaptation of the book and certainly in both the book and the film we learned a lot about hawks.

The success of H is for Hawk has had a profound effect on nature writing in recent years, with a huge increase in popularity among readers, and with a burgeoning of new writers, many of whom embrace human experience and emotion in their nature writing. The popularity of the film has widened this popularity and has introduced the book to a whole new audience.

Dymphna Crowe