The Peregrine

By J. A. Baker

A man's obsession with falcons blurs the line between human and hawk.

4.2/5 Goodreads · 6,291 ratings

208 pages

$17.95Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

In the flat fen lands of eastern England, a man embarks on a quest to follow two peregrine falcons. As he tracks their every move, his identity begins to merge with theirs, leading to a profound transformation. What happens when the boundaries between human and bird dissolve? This poetic journey explores the mysterious connection between man and nature, revealing a world both magical and terrifying.

From the publisher

This extraordinary, poetic portrait of two peregrine falcons is one of the most beloved works of nature writing ever published. From fall to spring, J.A. Baker set out to track the daily comings and goings of a pair of peregrine falcons across the flat fen lands of eastern England. He followed the birds obsessively, observing them in the air and on the ground, in pursuit of their prey, making a kill, eating, and at rest, activities he describes with an extraordinary fusion of precision and poetry. And as he continued his mysterious private quest, his sense of human self slowly dissolved, to be replaced with the alien and implacable consciousness of a hawk. It is this extraordinary metamorphosis, magical and terrifying, that these beautifully written pages record.

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