Raising Hare: The heart-warming true story of an unlikely friendship
As seen:
By Chloe Dalton, and and, Chloe Dalton
avg rating
11 reviews
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025
WATERSTONES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS’ BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE HATCHARDS AND BIOGRAPHERS’ CLUB FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2025
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE HAY FESTIVAL, SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND iNEWS
‘A beautiful book’ – ANGELINA JOLIE
‘I will be recommending this to everyone’ – MATT HAIG
‘Quietly profound, beautifully written, Hare is now lodged in my heart’ – TRACY CHEVALIER
__
Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and snoozed in your house for hours on end. This happened to me.
When lockdown led busy professional Chloe to leave the city and return to the countryside of her childhood, she never expected to find herself custodian of a newly born hare. Yet when she finds the creature, endangered, alone and no bigger than her palm, she is compelled to give it a chance at survival.
Raising Hare chronicles their journey together and the challenges of caring for the leveret and preparing for its return to the wild. We witness an extraordinary relationship between human and animal, rekindling our sense of awe towards nature and wildlife. This improbable bond of trust serves to remind us that the most remarkable experiences, inspiring the most hope, often arise when we least expect them.
TweetReviews
Lovely feel good book
Loved the descriptive narrative
Easy to read and kept me intrigued to see what happened at the end
Never really thought it as a non fiction book
An easy read sweet book. I enjoyed the mixture of biological hard facts as well as how hard have been portrayed in stories, fables and poems.
A nice crossover between fiction and non-fiction.
Loved reading this book. It was such a gentle read but full of detail and crafted in such a way to make you think about the world around you. Chloe Dalton managed to capture the sense of place which was vivid and inspiring. Highly recommend this to everyone.
Heartwarming read with interesting facts about Hares. I would have liked to better understand the authors personal journey during her time with the hare to feel more connected with the book.
Absolutely loved this book as our Book Club read. Read it slowly to enjoy the story of the hare and was so invested in him wanting a happy ending.
The leverets being born and how they faired added another dimension to the book and was fascinating.
A lovely account of how we developed relationships in lock down.
The illustrations were delightful.
Book is now being read by my mum.
A lovely warm and inviting book with exceptional drawings. It held so much interesting information about a relatively unknown species and told in a very soft and easy way. The realisation of nature around us and how much humans can influence and destroy habitats was confronting and engaging. This was an engaging book
This is a lovely beautifully written book, the illustration on the cover is inviting and sets the tone. Chloe Dalton’s memoir is thought provoking and told in the backdrop of lockdown. I couldn’t put it down but don’t just take my word for it read it!
A beautifully written book which reads with a calm and slower pace to that of the world we live in. The escapism into nature via the book is wonderfully done.
A beautifully written novel, which at times I felt was just a little bit too long. I appreciate that the nature of the book was slow paced & nothing much was ever going to happen. Chloe Dalton’s peaceful lockdown experience was in stark contrast to mine as a key-worker, homeschooling parent of young kids! Not part of the writing but I particularly liked the gorgeous pencil drawings depicting hares at the beginning of each chapter. I’m definitely on the lookout for hares when i’m out walking now!
A lovely, uplifting book. Really made me stop and think about nature surrounding me and challenged me to think if I notice nature or if I’m too busy in my own world which I feel I am guilty of.
I liked the flow of the book, although it was non-fiction it didn’t feel as this but I thoroughly enjoyed the hare facts that are woven throughout the novel.
A book I would recommend even to those who tend to stick more towards fiction I feel they would get a lot out of this book.
Lovely light descriptive read. Of special moments observed and experienced during the harsh times of covid. Knew nothing about hares before this and now know a lot more and on the look out for any that may be in the fields near my home.
