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Be More Bird
- Author
- Candida Meyrick
- Narrator
- Candida Meyrick
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 29 January 2026
- Run Time
- 3 hours 34 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
'Part memoir, part beginner’s guide, part self-help, but wholly wonderful book … It's a real treat to read these nuggets of winged wisdom' MAIL ON SUNDAY
‘A small masterpiece, written with heart, self-belief and wisdom. Wonderful!’ PAUL THEROUX
A true story of Bird and writer Candida Meyrick, set on Anglesey – and a fable for us all to find a way to fly.
The twelve-week-old Harris Hawk, Sophia Houdini Whitewing – aka Bird – is trained over the following months by the author and her children to be most herself: a skilled hunter and dazzling aerial gymnast, whose flights enrapture the family and set the author on a deepening love affair with life on the wing.
Working with her Harris Hawk over the following years reveals a new world: confronting mortality daily, moving through a liminal landscape, part sky-, part earth-bound. And every day’s hunting brings a new life-lesson. Bird opens up a way of being that is everything the author most longs to be: courageous, compassionate, independent, full of joy – free as a bird.
Be More Bird charts this deepening relationship between bird and woman, set in one of Britain’s wildest landscapes. It reveals the subtle dynamic possible between human and bird, illuminating the ancient, worldwide art of falconry and its urgent relevance for the modern mind: the importance of untethering our souls and belief-systems and re-establishing a connection with the wilder world.
Structured around a series of ‘life lessons', Be More Bird transports readers into the wildness hidden within themselves and to think profoundly about our connections with nature and our lives.
Be More Bird is a true story, still unfolding, of a wild predator who by choice flies in partnership with a woman as her earth-bound helper. Bird crosses boundaries: between species, cultures, sky and earth. In this way, Be More Bird is a fable for our times.
Dare to be more. Be more Bird.
Critics Review
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‘if any past traditions are to be revived, then let it be falconry. That is the feeling one is left with after reading Candida Meyrick’s part memoir, part beginner’s guide, part self-help, but wholly wonderful book … The life lessons Candida draws from Bird are universally applicable, and it’s a real treat to read these nuggets of winged wisdom'
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Mail on Sunday
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‘Philosophical, questioning, alive with wonder: this is a book that looks inwards and outwards, learning from the wildest creature with which humans have formed a partnership. Even the cover is a delight'
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Country Life
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‘A small masterpiece, written with heart, self-belief and wisdom. Wonderful!’
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Paul Theroux
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'Be More Bird is a beautiful, deeply thought-provoking book filled with lessons about nature, about our relationships with the natural world and with each other. Candida writes with great joy and humility. We learn about hawks in history, language and culture, about their role in society over millennia. This partnership, between woman and hawk, is one of equality, reciprocity and mutual understanding. Candida finds freedom in a wild creature who is feral but accepts friendship. Falconry, she writes, has the power to both tame and release the wild in us. Most enchanting of all, we feel Candida's joy as she witnesses "the flow state of creation" that is Bird in flight'
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Annie Worsley
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‘As a long-term admirer of Candida Meyrick’s novels I’m delighted to see her returning to print with this subtle and beguiling memoir'
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DJ Taylor
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‘Candida Meyrick’s lyrical account of hunting daily with her hawk is a love song to the splendour and wildness, the fragility and interdependence of life'
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Geraldine Bedell
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Candida Meyrick
- Narrator
- Candida Meyrick
- Duration
- 3 hours 34 minutes
- Release Date
- 29 January 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008761509
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Falconry and hawking, True stories of discovery, Animal life stories, Autobiography: general, Animals and society / Animal rights - issues and debates, Zoology: birds (ornithology), Wildlife: birds and birdwatching: general interest
Synopsis
'Part memoir, part beginner’s guide, part self-help, but wholly wonderful book … It's a real treat to read these nuggets of winged wisdom' MAIL ON SUNDAY ‘A small masterpiece, written with heart, self-belief and wisdom. Wonderful!’ PAUL THEROUX A true story of Bird and writer Candida Meyrick, set on Anglesey – and a fable for us all to find a way to fly. The twelve-week-old Harris Hawk, Sophia Houdini Whitewing – aka Bird – is trained over the following months by the author and her children to be most herself: a skilled hunter and dazzling aerial gymnast, whose flights enrapture the family and set the author on a deepening love affair with life on the wing. Working with her Harris Hawk over the following years reveals a new world: confronting mortality daily, moving through a liminal landscape, part sky-, part earth-bound. And every day’s hunting brings a new life-lesson. Bird opens up a way of being that is everything the author most longs to be: courageous, compassionate, independent, full of joy – free as a bird. Be More Bird charts this deepening relationship between bird and woman, set in one of Britain’s wildest landscapes. It reveals the subtle dynamic possible between human and bird, illuminating the ancient, worldwide art of falconry and its urgent relevance for the modern mind: the importance of untethering our souls and belief-systems and re-establishing a connection with the wilder world. Structured around a series of ‘life lessons', Be More Bird transports readers into the wildness hidden within themselves and to think profoundly about our connections with nature and our lives. Be More Bird is a true story, still unfolding, of a wild predator who by choice flies in partnership with a woman as her earth-bound helper. Bird crosses boundaries: between species, cultures, sky and earth. In this way, Be More Bird is a fable for our times. Dare to be more. Be more Bird.
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