Featherhood

A memoir of an estranged father and son, and the young magpie who helped to reconcile them: “The best piece of nature writing since H Is for Hawk.” —Neil Gaiman

A Sunday Times Best Memoir of the Year

This is a story of two men who could talk to birds—but were completely incapable of talking to each other. A father who fled from his family in the dead of night, and the jackdaw he raised like a child. A son obsessed with his absence—and the young magpie that fell into his path and refused to fly away. Featherhood is about the crow family and human family; about repetition across generations and birds that run in the blood; about a terror of repeating the sins of the father—and a desire to build a nest of one’s own.

“When the author decided to raise a baby magpie, he had no idea it would quiet his stormy emotions and help him reconcile with the father who’d abandoned him. Screeching, stealing, burying meat in Gilmour’s hair, this bird is a winning heroine—delightful on paper, harrowing to live with.” —People

“Captivating . . . A sensitive, often moving chronicle of transformation for bird and man.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Vivid . . . lovely and inviting.” —The New York Times

“Born to write, Gilmour interweaves intimate observations of magpie behavior with bird science; an astonishing family history; psychological struggles . . . His prose is as darkly iridescent as the magpie’s feathers, his wit is winged, and he is as tenacious in his gathering of memories and facts as the magpie is with food and objects. A resplendent interspecies memoir of nature, nurture, revelation, and love.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Wonderful—I can’t recommend it too highly.” —Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk