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Hannah Bourne-Taylor
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Fledgling Kindle Edition

by Hannah Bourne-Taylor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
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Read the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to reshape her identity when all normality has fallen away.

When lifelong bird-lover Hannah Bourne-Taylor moved with her husband to Ghana seven years ago she couldn’t have anticipated how her life would be forever changed by her unexpected encounters with nature and the subsequent bonds she formed.

Plucked from the comfort and predictability of her life before, Hannah struggled to establish herself in her new environment, striving to belong in the rural grasslands far away from home.

In this challenging situation, she was forced to turn inwards and interrogate her own sense of identity, however in the animal life around her, and in two wild birds in particular, Hannah found a source of solace and a way to reconnect with the world in which she was living.

Fledgling is a portrayal of adaptability, resilience and self-discovery in the face of isolation and change, fuelled by the quiet power of nature and the unexpected bonds with animals she encounters.

Hannah encourages us to reconsider the conventional boundaries of the relationships people have with animals through her inspiring and very beautiful glimpse ofwhat is possible when we allow ourselves to connect to the natural world. 

Full of determination and compassion, Fledgling is apowerful meditation on our instinctive connection to nature. It shows that even the tiniest of birds can teach us what is important in life and how to embrace every day.
 

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Aurum
  5. Publication date
    April 5, 2022
  6. File size
    3468 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09WRVBCBY
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aurum (April 5, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 5, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3468 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0711266670
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

About the author

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Hannah Bourne-Taylor

Hannah Bourne-Taylor

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
67 global ratings

Top review from the United States

Scallywag
5.0 out of 5 stars A complete delight
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2022
Verified Purchase
I loved this book from beginning to end. Absolutely enchanting and beautifully written. A hit.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Margaret P
5.0 out of 5 stars A very, very special book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2022
Verified Purchase
I quite like birds and had heard Hannah Bourne-Taylor on a few different radio stations speaking about her experience about the bird nesting in her hair for 84 days. Fledgling swept me into Ghana, into the author's life and into a bond with not only the finch but also a swift. Swifts are my favourite birds but some of the facts are mind-blowing - how they fly non stop for 10 months of the year for example. There are lots of animals in this book - a pangolin which I had never heard of, and some cool insects and snakes. I also found the personal story of her suffering from acute anxiety and becoming obsessed with checking a pool to save ants (she says 'obsessive compulsions' which makes me think she has OCD), very interesting. To be that brave and also be able to write like she does feels special. I do like reading nature books but this one felt different. It was so easy to read and exceptionally written but most of all has this really huge heart. It is so personal. I was in tears throughout the book actually - for good and bad as there were very sad parts and very very happy parts. I feel like I know the finch on the cover intimately which sounds a bit strange maybe but he really came alive but her attention to detail and the clear love that she felt for the birds transferred onto me. I would highly recommend this book for anyone really.
Customer image
Margaret P
5.0 out of 5 stars A very, very special book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2022
I quite like birds and had heard Hannah Bourne-Taylor on a few different radio stations speaking about her experience about the bird nesting in her hair for 84 days. Fledgling swept me into Ghana, into the author's life and into a bond with not only the finch but also a swift. Swifts are my favourite birds but some of the facts are mind-blowing - how they fly non stop for 10 months of the year for example. There are lots of animals in this book - a pangolin which I had never heard of, and some cool insects and snakes. I also found the personal story of her suffering from acute anxiety and becoming obsessed with checking a pool to save ants (she says 'obsessive compulsions' which makes me think she has OCD), very interesting. To be that brave and also be able to write like she does feels special. I do like reading nature books but this one felt different. It was so easy to read and exceptionally written but most of all has this really huge heart. It is so personal. I was in tears throughout the book actually - for good and bad as there were very sad parts and very very happy parts. I feel like I know the finch on the cover intimately which sounds a bit strange maybe but he really came alive but her attention to detail and the clear love that she felt for the birds transferred onto me. I would highly recommend this book for anyone really.
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R. J. Farrer
5.0 out of 5 stars A truly informed and accurate account of the complexities of animal rescue.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2022
Verified Purchase
Hannah is a brilliant writer and has an evolutionary biologist’s approach to the complexities of human/ wild animal interaction. The book is the true account of a fragment of her time in Africa.
Like many of the reviewers here, I too have tried to rescue orphaned or ‘lost’ animals. It is an emotional rollercoaster.
Hannah goes to Ghana with her high profile and gifted (and very brave) husband Robin. He is busy and much needed, she is not allowed to work. She is often alone, feels isolated and the restricted social scene of similarly displaced European wives is not to her liking. When she finds a young Swift, knocked from its destroyed nest, it immediately becomes a metaphor for her own sense of alienation. Her emotional and physical commitment to the Swift’s survival is phenomenal. You must read about it.

The second half of the book involves another effort to rescue a bird, this time a Mannikin finch with a far different response to humans. Hannah and the bird ‘evolve’ together, each trying to be true to their own genotype whilst being utterly in awe of each other’s!

This wonderful book will appeal to ornithologists, geneticists, philosophers and anyone with a heart who has ever committed to the welfare and understanding of other animals.
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Simon (NZ)
5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing, compelling, inspiring
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2023
Verified Purchase
I loved this book. I had finished reading Wilding by Isabella Tree and wanted to read something else with a nature focus. This story of Hannah's life as a lonely expat wife in Ghana, her unplanned rescue of various creatures, and her growing awareness and appreciation of how birds see the world, totally captivated me. Hannah writes beautifully, lyrically, and I am so grateful for being allowed, however briefly, to have an insider's view of her life in Ghana and the wildlife that surrounded her. No doubt I too am surrounded by amazing insects and birds but have never taken the time to stop, stand still and really look at the world beyond my tiny human bubble. After reading this book I will try to open my eyes and heart.
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Thea Bennett
5.0 out of 5 stars Pride of place on my shelf...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2022
Verified Purchase
A stunning debut from Hannah Bourne-Taylor, who puts her deep connection with the natural world on the page with eloquence and passion. The descriptions of landscape, vegetation and weather - both in Ghana and the UK - are immersive and sometimes almost hyper-real, and I felt many times as if I were right alongside her both under stormy equatorial skies or the soft sunshine of an English day in May. And the fauna - insects, dogs, birds - are characterised and brought to life with great love and attention to detail but no sentimentality. This is a tale of hand-raising two baby birds: the author skilfully shows what is at stake for these tiny creatures, and for her, too, alone and at sea in an alien environment far from family and friends. Greatly moved, deeply invested in a good outcome for her efforts, I couldn't put the book down. Now it sits on my shelf; the bird on the cover seeming to call across the room as if reminding me that Fledgling is a book I will return to, probably many times.
4 people found this helpful
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alemap mool
3.0 out of 5 stars how can a whole book be so singular
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
Found this book confounding
Made me know more about swifts, finches and other animals but not sure I wanted to know in such detail
Insanely minute in minute by minute observation
One person found this helpful
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