Blood Ties

This is a book about a man’s relationship with hawks, and his

self-education as a falconer, and about his discovery that despite his

Asperger’s Syndrome, which hampers his normal social interactions,

he can forge a loving bond with the young son he thought he had

lost. He rediscovers his full humanity through his commitment to

the training of falcons and his love of the natural world.

Ben Crane writes with uncanny accuracy and lyrical precision

about the intricacies of birds’ behaviour and their instincts. He

has a ruthless eye for the minute details of natural processes – of

plumage, the patterns of flight, of killing, death and decay. He’s

as clear-eyed about himself and his detachment from ordinary

human society as he is about the flight of peregrines and

goshawks. Here is nature writing at its very best, interwoven with

an affecting human story and an account of how a man mastered

the ancient craft of falconry.