Book Series Guide

Author guide

Helen Macdonald Books in Order

Helen Macdonald is a British writer, naturalist, poet, and historian of science whose work explores human relationships with the natural world. Their books include the poetry collections Simple Objects and Shaler's Fish, the natural-history study Falcon, the memoir H is for Hawk, the essay collection Vesper Flights, and the co-authored novel Prophet.

nature writingnatural historymemoiressayspoetryliterary fiction

Catalog record updated .

Helen Macdonald's Newest Book

Cover of Prophet

Prophet

co-authored-novel · First published 2023

From the extraordinary minds of award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author of H Is for Hawk Helen Macdonald and first time author Sin Blaché, Prophet is their electric debut, a tantalizing adventure fusing noir, sci-fi and a slow burn queer romance—set in a universe just one perilous step from our own. Adam Rubenstein and Sunil Rao have been reluctant partners since their Uzbekistan days. Adam is a seemingly unflappable American Intelligence officer and Rao is an ex-MI6 agent, an addict and rudderless pleasure hound, with the uncanny ability to discern the truth of things—about everyone and everything other than Adam. When an American diner turns up in a foggy field in the UK after a mysterious death, Adam and Rao are called in to investigate, setting into motion the most dangerous and otherworldly mission of their lives. In a surreal, action-packed quest that takes Adam and Rao from secret laboratories in Colorado, to a luxury lodge in Aspen, to the remote Nevada desert, the pair begins to uncover how and why people’s fondest memories are being weaponized against them by a spooky, ever-shifting substance called Prophet. As the unlikely twosome battles this strange new reality, Prophet’s victims’ memories are materializing in increasingly bizarre forms: favorite games, beloved pets, fairground rides, each more malevolent than the next. Prophet is like no enemy Adam and Rao - or the world - have ever come up against. A tension-shot odd-couple romance, an unflinching send-up of corporate corruption, and a genre-bending tour de force, Prophet is a triumph of storytelling by a new writing duo with a thrilling future.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of H Is for Hawk

H Is for Hawk

The defining and most accessible entry point to Macdonald's memoir and nature writing.

Cover of Vesper Flights

Vesper Flights

The best entry point to their essays on animals, observation, memory, and the natural world.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (1)
  1. Falcon

    nonfiction · 2006

    Before best-selling author Helen Macdonald told the story of the goshawk in H Is for Hawk, she told the story of the falcon, in a cultural history of the masterful creature that can “cut the sky in two” with the “perfectly aerodynamic…

Nonfiction (1)
  1. H Is for Hawk

    memoir · 2014

    "As a child Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the arcane terminology and read all the classic books, including T. H. White's tortured masterpiece, The Goshawk, which describes White's struggle to train a…

Essays and speeches (1)
  1. Vesper Flights

    essay-collection · 2020

    From the New York Times bestselling author of H is for Hawk and winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction, comes a transcendent collection of essays about the natural world. Animals don’t exist in order to teach us things, but…

Poetry (2)
  1. Simple Objects

    poetry-chapbook · 1993

  2. Shaler's Fish

    poetry-collection · 2001

    “Devoted readers of H Is for Hawk will find Macdonald’s gift for stunning language, patient curiosity, and expansive wisdom on full display in her poems.”—Publishers Weekly From the naturalist and author of the New York Times bestseller H…

Collaborations (2)
  1. Helen Macdonald, Gael Turnbull, Nicholas Johnson

    co-authored-poetry-collection · 1997

  2. Prophet

    co-authored-novel · 2023

    From the extraordinary minds of award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author of H Is for Hawk Helen Macdonald and first time author Sin Blaché, Prophet is their electric debut, a tantalizing adventure fusing noir, sci-fi and a slow…

Frequently asked questions about Helen Macdonald

Who is Helen Macdonald?

Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist, and historian of science who has also worked as a professional falconer.

Sources: penguin.co.uk (opens in a new tab)theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)

What is Helen Macdonald best known for?

They are best known for H Is for Hawk, a memoir about grief, falconry, and training a goshawk after their father's death, interwoven with a portrait of T. H. White.

Source: thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk (opens in a new tab)

What influenced Helen Macdonald's writing?

Birds and falconry have been lifelong interests. Macdonald has identified T. H. White's The Goshawk, J. A. Baker's The Peregrine, and contemporary nature writing as major influences.

Source: theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)

What awards has Helen Macdonald won?

H Is for Hawk won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the 2014 Costa Book of the Year.

Sources: thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk (opens in a new tab)thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk (opens in a new tab)

Why is Helen Macdonald important to nature writing?

Macdonald's work brings memoir, falconry, natural history, and biography into a single form of nature writing. Prize judges praised its vivid, technically informed treatment of wildlife and the environment.

Sources: thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk (opens in a new tab)theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)