5 Books Like No Way But Gentlenesse

I adore this book because it is so unique—I’ve never read anything quite this specific or niche which seems so all-encompassing.

It is the story of a life lost, and a life found. Of a father that dies and how the recovery of his daughter is tied up with the start of a new relationship—with a goshawk.

At the outset, the author is so wonderfully eloquent on all aspects of loss; the sudden jarring sense of confusion when a person dies and you have their possessions still in your hands; the struggle to keep in touch with reality (“for weeks I felt like I was made of dully burning metal”); the desperation to see the back of grief when new relationships are desperately grasped at, and fail of course, because of that desperation. 

The goshawk saves her (and us) from the darkness, as she becomes gripped with the… show more.

Tired of humanity and keen to ‘rewild’ himself, T. H. White gave up his teaching job and bought a goshawk from Germany (they had been wiped out in Britain).

He set out to ‘revert to a wild state’ and rented a cottage in the woods. His account of trying to ‘tame’ this hawk is vivid and intense, and not without controversy, as he used a medieval method that seemed cruel to some back then, and to most people now. This book is the only one written about goshawks here in the 20th century.

A complex and brilliant mind, White is better remembered for his Arthurian tales of young Wort and Merlin the Wizard, which helped inspire J. K. Rowling’s creation of Harry Potter. The Goshawk is considered a classic.

If you want chapter and verse on the science behind the northern goshawk (aka Accipiter gentilis) this is a good place to start. This title is a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the species, published in the respected series of Poyser monographs. 

Kenward's book gives details of where the northern goshawk lives, across the northern hemisphere, and how the different races of this species vary according to their habitats, from the huge and very pale birds of the colder north and east of Asia to the smaller, darker birds of the Mediterranean islands in the south and west.

In North America, the goshawk has many interesting differences too, including a reputation for ferocity in defence of its nesting territory.

There were quite a lot of books written during lockdown, as the enforced isolation created new contexts for connecting with nature close to home.

In summer 2020 James Aldred was in the position of having a large part of the New Forest mostly to himself, and a chance to immerse himself in the company of goshawks and other wild creatures. James was filming the hawks for a BBC documentary, with many hours spent in a hide, camera pointed at the nest, watching, waiting. This gives the book some of the self-contained, moment-in-time-and-place intensity of T. H. White’s Goshawk book. 

In a world where having any powers could get you exploited or killed, Kestrel has managed to successfully hide her magical abilities and find a pirate captain willing to take her on as part of his crew. When the captain is taken, though, Kestrel vows to repay his mentorship by rescuing him, and to do that she needs McAvery as a bargaining chip. Even when McAvery isn’t stealing ships, he’s annoying. Kestrel doesn’t trust him, and needing his help was never part of her plan.  

A fast-paced, enjoyable read.