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Flesh and Blood
Flesh and Blood
Nov 15, 2024 1:08 AM

Author:Diane Blood

Flesh and Blood

Diane Blood first hit the headlines in 1996 when she went to court to fight for the right to use her late husband's sperm to try for the child they had planned together before his sudden death from meningitis. Diane's case caused an ethical storm and was debated in the courts, in Parliament and in the media. With huge public support, yet against almost impossible odds, she won on appeal and went on to have two miraculous little boys.

The legal battles were not over, however, as the law still prevented Diane from naming the boys' father on their birth certificates. After many hurdles and stumbling blocks, she triumphed again and made constitutional history when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Act finally came into force on 1 December 2003 and she was allowed to re-register her children's births.

Flesh and Blood asks many important questions and helps provide some of the answers. It shows how controversial policies are made that affect all our lives. Beyond that, it is a simple story of life, death and procreation: an incredibly vivid account written by the woman who lived through the despair and jubilation.

Reviews

A fun, extremely creative and informative book to help you get healthier and enjoy the process

—— Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint

Keris and Matt are not only fitness experts, they're great storytellers, and The Paleo Primer shows us how to be healthy in a funny, engaging style. You won't want to put it down!

—— Paul Jaminet, author of Perfect Health Diet

H is for Hawk is a dazzling piece of work: deeply affecting, utterly fascinating and blazing with love and intelligence… The result is a deeply human work shot through…with intelligence and compassion… I will be surprised if a better book than H is for Hawk is published this year.

—— Melissa Harrison , Financial Times

I'm convinced it's going to be an absolute classic of nature writing.

—— Nick Barley , Guardian

I can't remember the last time a book made me feel so many different things in such quick succession.

—— Rachel Cooke , Guardian

[Macdonald’s] descriptive writing, startlingly and devilishly precise…is only the half of it. She has written her taming of Mabel like a thriller, slowly and carefully cranking the tension is that your stomach and heart leap queasily towards each other… Captivates.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Captivating… There is a highly polished brilliance to her writing. The English-speaking world has an old passion for books about creatures and captivating companions … Helen Macdonald looks set to revive the genre.

—— Guardian , Mark Cocker

Nature-writing, but not as you know it. Astounding.

—— Bookseller

It is a mark of Macdonald’s achievement that so exultant a book can resolve itself in a sense of failure, yet leave the reader as uplifted as a raptor riding on a thermal.

—— Philip Hoare , New Statesman

MacDonald’s prose is poetic, forensic, yet often capable of quickening the pulse. Her lexicon…is vivid and joyous, soaring as freely as birds do.

—— Benjamin Myers , New Scientist

One of the most eloquent accounts of bereavement you could hope to read… A grief memoir with wings.

—— Caroline Sanderson , Bookseller

What she has achieved is a very rare thing in literature - a completely realistic account of a human relationship with animal consciousness… It is a soaring performance and Mabel is the star.

—— John Carey , Sunday Times

Cunningly plaited and – almost – devastating… It deserves to sell shedloads and win prizes, it is naturalist writing of that spectacular quality that is literature too.

—— Angus Clarke , The Times

A wondrous book of loss and recovery… When [Macdonald] matches her factual know-how…with her poet’s eye, it is excellent… An exceptional book of twisted growth.

—— Tim Dee , National

Absorbing… This memoir is lit with flashes of that grace, a grace that sweeps down to the reader to hold her wrist tight with beautiful, terrible class. The discovery of the season.

—— Erica Wagner , The Economist

Astounding.

—— Bookseller

People talk about books that change your life. I loved the fact that this book does something much more valuable. It doesn’t change anything. It leaves everything just where it was, only more so; more distinct, more itself. It opens your eyes. And it deepens what we have always known; that we live side by side with each other, as we do with the creatures around us.

—— Laura Beatty , Caught by the River

A talon-sharp memoir that will thrill and chill you to the bone... Fascinating.

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

Mesmerising, decisive and devastating… Her description of Mabel in flight should be etched into every birdwatcher's field guide... Macdonald is a nature writer supreme, arguably the best practitioner of this art form writing today.

—— Stuart Winter , Sunday Express

A soaring triumph.

—— Christian House , Daily Telegraph

Beautiful.

—— Sport

Strange yet compelling... Macdonald’s poetic prose soars… An uplifting message that…sends the heart soaring.

—— Gerard Henderson , Daily Express

Vivid and fascinating.

—— James Attlee , Independent

Soars beyond genres, and burns with emotional and intellectual intensity.

—— Nature

We can’t recommend this strange, clever, beautiful book highly enough.

—— Jarrold's Bookshop , Eastern Daily Press

A soliloquy that sings from the pages. Truly beautiful.

—— Rufus the Hawk , Twitter

Heartbreaking.

—— Grazia

In fifty years time – a hundred – H is for Hawk will still defy easy definition. Readers will see wildness a little differently and they will still finish with a silent cheer for a fellow human starting to re-engage with the world. File under classic.

—— Nigel Roby , We Love This Book

Poetic, imaginative and richly persuasive prose. Macdonald’s sensitivity to English weather, landscape and natural habitat is extraordinary; she is a word-painter of the subtlest palette and an audio recorder of peerless quality.

—— Book Oxygen

Macdonald makes nature writing new.

—— For Books Sake

Extraordinary… A searing study of bereavement and a meditation on man’s place in the natural world… Written with vigour, leavened with humour, it doesn’t just sing, it flies.

—— Maggie Ferguson , Intelligent Life

Unusual and incredibly moving.

—— Twin Magazine

A masterpiece.

—— Metro , Patricia Nicol

Very rarely does a book reach out to its readers in such an immediate and engaging manner… A page-turning saga full of profound reflection… A truly remarkable achievement… This book transcends nature writing. Its quality of distinction is apparent before any exercise of critical faculty.

—— John Lister-Kaye , WOW247

Macdonald is her father’s daughter; she takes photographs, but with words, brilliant ones. H is for Helen… G is for good.

—— John Lewis-Stempel , BBC Countryfile

Strange and beautiful… An incredible achievement.

—— Kevin Jackson , Literary Review

It is in her descriptions of nature that Macdonald really excels… And…it’s the hawks themselves…which really come alive.

—— James Mcconnachie , Spectator

Never has the eye of a raptor assumed such fearful, beautiful meaning.

—— Philip Hoare , New Statesman

Big-hearted, joyful and blazing with gorgeous descriptions of nature, H is for Hawk is an unusual but very special memoir.

—— Good Housekeeping

Lyrical, headlong, humourous.

—— Iain Finlayson , New Statesman

As phenomenal, unusual, moving and agile as a fearsome bird of prey.

—— Monocle

Helen’s skill is to cover so much beneath the camouflage of ‘nature writing’ – with perceptive, far-reaching and rather beautiful results.

—— Galen O'Hanlon , Skinny

An elegant, disturbing and heart-warming book.

—— Wharfedale Observer

A brilliantly beautiful evocation which interweaves her experiences as an austringer, a grieving daughter, an academic and simply a human being.

—— Allen Sleith , Belfast Telegraph

Destined to be a nature classic.

—— Bath Magazine

It is moving and personal in a way that few books of this kind are.

—— Gabriel Smith , Cotswold Life

H is for Hawk is a mature, accomplished work: a touchstone for future memoirs, bibliomemoirs, and writing that deals with the natural environment and the self.

—— The Times Literary Supplement

Beautifully written and interposed with literary references, it will captivate book lovers and bird lovers alike.

—— Catriona Gray , House and Garden

Likely to leave a lasting impression.

—— Scotland Outdoors

This is an encounter with a bird many of us only dream of seeing in the wild, so read this and fill a void.

—— John Miles , Bird Watching

You won’t find a better nature book this year.

—— Fanny Blake , Woman and Home

This part-memoir, part-history, part-nature combination could have gone dreadfully wrong but it doesn’t. In fact, like Mabel, it flies.

—— Alan Johnson MP , Radio Times

Somehow the book had rattled me so much that, even after finishing it, I couldn’t let it go.

—— Julie Myerson , Guardian

Helen Macdonald’s book is a worthy and unusual winner; it’s part grief-memoir, part history of falconry.

—— Robbie Millen , The TImes

H is for Hawk deserves its acclaim as a classic of its kind.

—— David Sexton , Evening Standard

A great read.

—— Western Morning News

Macdonald’s unusual approach and her resonant natural descriptions make it an outstanding book.

—— Sameer Rahim , Telegraph

H is for Hawk…is the most “A for Amazing” book I've read in a long while.

—— Alan Johnson , Spectator

The deserved winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, this is one of the most original works you’ll read this year.

—— Daily Telegraph

The passion and conviction with which Macdonald tells an extraordinary story transcends any fear that this will be another “nature story”. Instead it is fascinating, moving and gripping throughout.

—— Alex Larman , Daily Express

Winner of 2014’s Samuel Johnson prize, this is a captivating nature book as well as a moving elegy on love and life.

—— Kate Figes , Mail on Sunday

The book is almost faultless in its exploration of the relationship with one’s own consciousness as well as that of an animal.

—— Helen Davies , Sunday Times

I’ve never read anything like it before… The last lines brought tears to my eyes.

—— Ruth Rendell , Guardian

I must agree with the judges of the Samuel Johnson prize. Helen Macdonald’s incredible H Is for Hawk…is a truly original mixture… It is, as the flyleaf predicts, destined to become a classic of nature writing.

—— Stephen Moss , Guardian

H is for Hawk is an extraordinary achievement – and a salutary reminder that animals are not symbols, but co-tenants of our living landscape.

—— Melissa Harrison , The Times

Helen Macdonald’s prose streams on to the page with absolute clarity in this extraordinary book.

—— Pat Ashworth , Church Times

It really has been a privilege to read this book.

—— Dovegreyreader scribbles (blog)

Although grief is the engine of the story, its most exceptional aspect is the beauty and force of its descriptions of birds and landscape, and its real star is the goshawk.

—— Paul Laity , Guardian

The winner of this year's Samuel Johnson Prize is one of the most captivating books I've read.

—— Lucy Scholes , Independent

It is in no way a misery memoir. It is uplifting, poetic, exhilarating.

—— Jackie Kay , Scotsman

What makes the book outstanding is the beauty of her prose. It rightly won the prize.

—— Alan Johnson , Mail on Sunday

Combining nature writing of the highest order…with a deeply affecting meditation on bereavement, this looks set to become a classic.

—— Mail on Sunday

One of the most all-consumingly wonderful books I’ve read in ages.

—— Kate Kellaway , Observer

Emphatically my book of the year.

—— John Lister-Kay , Scotsman

I’ve read excerpts from this book and it sounds wild and strange and haunting.

—— Francesca Simon , UK Press Syndication

It’s worthy winner most in that it shows how diverse non-fiction can be in itself.

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotsman

It’s a treat – a truly original, if slightly mad, book.

—— Robbie Millen , The Times

I have never read anything that evokes the strange and broken landscape of bereavement more accurately.

—— Alexandra Blakemore , Times Higher Education

Ultimately uplifting about the power of life, this has to be one of the best books of the year.

—— Bob Johnstone , Newstalk

It is a timeless classic that leaves you wondering how you did without it before.

—— Paul McNamee , Big Issue

Wonderful.

—— Bel Mooney , Daily Mail

The book is unforgettable.

—— Michael McCarthy , Independent

Her book is so good that, at times, it hurt me to read it. It draws blood, in ways that seem curative.

—— Dwight Garner , New York Times

To categorize this work as merely memoir, nature writing or spiritual writing would understate [Macdonald’s] achievement

—— Karin Altenberg , Wall Street Journal (Europe)

Captivating and beautifully written, it’s a meditation on the bond between beasts and humans and the pain and beauty of being alive

—— People Magazine

To come across writing this good…is like spotting a swooping bird of prey on a woodland walk; it’s unexpected and thrilling, and the experience stays with you

—— David Evans, 5 stars , Independent

It’s completely original

—— Peter Duncan , Daily Express

Macdonald writes poignantly but avoids sentimentality on taking her reader on this journey of discovery and ultimately of liberation

—— Good Book Guide

Both sad and beautiful

—— Kate Phelan , Vogue

Macdonald’s nature writing is truly breathtaking… H is for Hawk is a work that beautifully explores the natural in the midst of the very personal

—— Ben Walter , Journeys Magazine

probably one of the most unusual non-fictions books I’ve read, but… one of the most heartfelt and intriguing ones

—— Reading Matters

poetic and intriguing

—— Louise Elliott , Living Magazine

H is for Hawk, her memoir of loss, writing, recovery and nature, drawing ingeniously on the life and work of T.H. White, covered this territory with ferocious honesty and eloquence

—— Sarah Ditum , Spectator

Combines lyrical nature writing with moving introspection.

—— Radio Times

Fiercely, grippingly brilliant.

—— James Macdonald , The Sunday Times

Exceptionally well researched and written… It’s a wonderful book, it made me cry.

—— Phil Williams, BBC Radio 5 Live

Macdonald's is a book about grief, the churlish indifference of the natural world to human emotions and the solitude of failure, but it is also about a "return from this strange hedgerow ontology to more ordinary humanity". It is heartbreaking and affirming at the same time.

—— Peter J. Smith , Times Higher Education Supplement

A lyrical, moving probe into both the process of mourning and our relationship with the natural world.

—— Martin Chilton, Olivia Petter and Ceri Radford , Independent, *Books of the Decade*

One of the decade’s most arresting nature books

—— Andrew Holgate , Sunday Times, *Books of the Decade*
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