Fledgling Days: Memoir of a Falconer
 Emma Ford
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1999 The Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY USA
  ISBN: 0879519479
Amazon's Value Price is: $25.95

Falconry has been the sport of royalty & of men. Emma Ford is neither yet she has become one of the most acclaimed falconers in the world today - this is her funny, insightful coming of age story.

I loved every word in this book, every drawing. Fresh & funny, naive & wise Emma Ford is a survivor who has been found by the great hunting birds of the world & given a place in their lives.

With dry, deadpan, glinting-eyed detail she describes scenes of hilarity from a childhood where divorce severed her family. With all manner of mishaps which her mother manages to transform into successes, Emma drags home just about any creature she could get through the door & some she couldn't; to her training under the auspices of an aristocrat who makes the word eccentric redundant.

Filled with a lively, very English cast of characters, Emma Ford has written a moving account of her coming of age without an ounce of sentimentality or pity. She has written about her enchantment with the animals in her life & the one person, other than her mother, who will change her life & open her heart.

From early days of taking care of an orphaned owl to being a fumble- fingered novice on the training grounds of an ancient castle; from being hired to show her birds in films & ads to an all-expenses paid job interview with a fabled sheik in Abu Dabi, Emma Ford tells her story quietly, rarely losing her focus from her beloved animal friends, divulging her wisdom in the ways of life, failure & success.

Fledgling Days is a breath of fresh air, the rare sound of wings in the wind. An amazingly good read.
(08/13/00)

Rebecca