Raising Hare

"Raising Hare is quite a magical story of a woman who had a pretty full life in politics. During lockdown, she was in the countryside, and she developed a relationship with a hare, which is an animal that is not domesticated. She finds it injured and brings this leveret home to care for it. It’s a story about Dalton’s relationship with the leveret, and a very deep contemplation about our connection to the natural world. It’s written with enormous grace and gentleness. It’s a slow book, that is profound, and I think it moved all of us, while raising some important questions about how we interact with the natural world, and the effect of humans on the natural world. It’s a book that really stayed with us, and I think about it a lot still. So I’m not surprised that it is doing very well. It’s still on bestseller lists. I wouldn’t say that’s a particularly British thing. For me, this was about a moment during lockdown where the world slowed down and the writer had time to think about things deeply in a way we don’t, normally. The way she describes, so tenderly their relationship, is captivating and touching. There are wonderful details, like the leveret giving birth behind her curtain. It really draws you in, but at the same time she has to let it go—this is not a domesticated animal. We must respect the hare, and the natural world."