Allen & Unwin
Nov 2026
ISBN:9781837266951
Publisher:A&U Canongate
Imprint:Canongate Trade
RRP: $29.99
To be perfectly honest, I’d not heard of the adult book despite its bestseller status but when this arrived with this beautiful dustjacket and absolutely divine endpapers, I knew I would love it. And love it, I do!
For those of us who lean towards the magick and witch side and certainly, those of us who are Tiffany Aching fans, hares have a special significance as they also do in many cultures. It reminds me of another beautiful book I reviewed some time ago Song of the Golden Hare, which you might also enjoy and would make a perfect companion title for this one.
This is a beautifully written memoir of rescuing and raising a tiny leveret and the unexpected attachment from both human and animal that ensued. Chloe had no knowledge of hares whatsoever beyond having seen them leaping around her home at times, but after finding a tiny scrap hidden by its mother, as hares will do, but not retrieved subsequently, she felt bound to try and save it.
What a delightful and heartfelt sequence of events followed as that tiny leveret grew up, remained attached to Chloe but at the same time was still a wild hare, eventually bringing ‘home’ her own leverets. It is just pure joy to read and savour.
Any animal or nature loving reader will adore it. Anyone with an interest in hares would as well and the teaching resource especially – and don’t get me wrong, I don’t think for one moment you would use this is a ‘class’ set text – is filled with some lovely follow-up activities and lots of hare facts that you could use if you chose to share this as a read-aloud. I think it would make a great one for middle-upper kids and makes a nice change from just fiction as the narrative style is so engaging. Above all, it is a wonderful demonstration of kindness and concern for the natural world and wildlife that all readers will appreciate and be moved by.
I read it over two nights because I was so completely absorbed by Chloe’s story of ‘the leveret’. The line drawings from Denise Nester scattered throughout suit the style of writing and the subject perfectly, looking as they do anatomically correct. What else to say? It’s a truly joyous bounding leaping twisting 5 ๐น๐น๐น๐น๐น rating for capable readers from around 8 years old.
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