Helen Macdonald

Helen Macdonald is the author of Vesper Flights. As a child, she grew up in Camberley, Surrey "on a 50-acre walled estate owned by the Theosophical Society" (24). Her childhood home allowed her the freedom to roam at whim, and to spend endless hours playing in the neighboring Tekels Park. She cites this time as the inspiration for her work as a naturalist and scientific research scholar. Treated as an outsider and bullied for the majority of her youth, Macdonald turned increasingly to animals for comfort and intimacy. She believed animals were just like her, and she could find a community and home in their company. With time, however, she learned the flaws in this manner of thinking.

After finishing university, she moved to rural Wales and began working on a falcon conservation-breeding farm. Though she believed this was an ideal location and setting from which to...