"Set against contrasting Ghanaian and British landscapes, this touching memoir explores nature’s power to offer us hope, purpose and a sense of belonging when we need it the most. "
As a child, Hannah Bourne-Taylor was fascinated by the natural world – especially birds. When she moves to Africa with her husband and feels her sense of identity and purpose slipping away, it’s the birds in the surrounding grasslands that she turns to for comfort. Her efforts to hand-raise two wild fledglings – a swift and a mannikin finch – lie at the core of this beguiling story, but it’s her bond with the birds and what they come to symbolise that adds real emotional depth. Exploring the author’s efforts to adjust socially and psychologically, this poignant account dips and soars like her beloved feathered friends. Feelings of isolation and insanity make way for joyful moments of connection; the boundaries between wild and tame becoming less distinct as Bourne-Taylor tunes into the rhythms and sounds of the Ghanaian landscape. Along the journey, readers are treated to an impressive study of British and African birds, along with other wildlife. The writer’s beautifully observed meditations on spiders, poisonous snakes, ants and even termites are both informed and engaging and her weaving together of fact with lyrical prose is masterful. Fledgling is a fascinating debut that will undoubtedly fill your soul with joy – and teach you something about the wild and wonderful world of birds. Like H is for Hawk, it will also remind you that no matter where you are in life, nature can always offer hope…and help you to heal. What a truly valuable message to share.
Read the powerful account of one woman's fight to reshape her identity through connection with nature 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 a powerful 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.
Hannah Bourne-Taylor graduated from the London College of Fashion, with a First in Photography in 2008. She became an equine photographer and exhibited at the Royal Academy, with two solo exhibitions also in London and New York. From 2013 – 2021, Hannah lived in rural Ghana with her husband who ran the ‘Right to Dream’ charitable foundation. She worked within the charity’s media team producing a documentary series on gender equality in celebration of the foundation’s girls’ programme, the first of its kind in Africa. Since 2019, Hannah has ghost written and edited several books, including working closely with Anne Glenconner on her bestselling Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown.
Hannah is now back in the UK, putting down roots in the Oxfordshire countryside with her husband and their two Ghanaian rescue dogs. She is writing her second book, based around British wildlife and conservation, to be published by Aurum in 2023. She is currently actively involved in a number of conservation projects within the UK, including The Bumblebee Conservation Trust; The Woodland Trust; People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and Froglife.
