Vesper Flights, a collection of essays by Helen Macdonald, is a great gift to all readers in this time of quarantine and solitude. McDonald shares her vast knowledge of the natural world, and intimate details of her experiences in a seamless reflection on life. Each essay is a concise and transporting experience.
Reading Vesper Flights is like having a conversation with a close and respected friend. There is so much information conveyed in each essay. I imagine Swifts flying full speed into the small entrance holes of their nests, and what it would be like to remain aloft, in flight for months at a time. I tiptoe across the forest looking for chanterelles and ponder the evolution of the mythological boar to domesticated pig and then to the wild boars thriving in the British woods and our “…history of territorial anxiety over wild animals intruding on our spaces.” I contemplate how it would feel to spend 80 days in an immigration detention center and mourn the losses of the sixth great extinction.
Each essay is my new favorite and then …I am so grateful for the next journey, insight and education. Macdonald writes of her relationship with the wild and shares a broad spectrum of voices and perspectives that will appeal to a wide variety of readers, inspiring awe at every turn of the page.
