Struggling to come to terms with her husband's premature death, thirty-seven-year-old widow Nicola Frayle finds solace in nursing back to health the injured osprey, Isagair, she finds caught in a poacher's net.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Vividly detailed description and a plot that neatly mixes human and animal affairs mark British nature author Clarkson's first novel since Ice Trek (1984). Set amidst the natural beauty and changing seasons of modern Devon and the Scottish highlands, the narrative presents the life, habits and return to the U.K. of the osprey after a century away through the story of Iasgair, a young male of the species. Young and attractive Nicola Frayle, recently widowed, finds Iasgair entangled in some nylon netting and takes him home. With the help of Paul, a local farmer, Nicola tends to the bird, feeding him with frozen fish. Paul and his wife, matchmaking on their minds, then introduce Nicola to Martin Collier, a maimed vet who owns a trout fishery. When Iasgair begins fishing Collier's ponds, a romance slowly develops between the two. But on a highlands trip to free the bird, the lovers stumble into an ideological rift that threatens to separate them forever. Clarkson alternates animal and human point of view, and, though the animal-oriented passages are the more convincing, the story coheres throughout, offering a gently presented lesson: that while humanity may be the world's foremost predator, our aggression is no less natural than that of a panther-or an osprey.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
In two intersecting stories, a couple find love and an endangered osprey overcomes the adversity of humanity and nature. Still mourning her husband's death, 37-year-old Nicola Frayle comes upon the male osprey, Iasgair, trapped in a poacher's net in the Devon countryside. But by rescuing the bird and feeding it while it recuperates, Nicola creates a dependent creature that feeds only at the fishery (recently established by retired military officer Martin Collier) rather than reverting to the wild. Together Nicola and Martin take Iasgair to a home in the Scottish Highlands, where their own budding relationship is threatened by the philosophical issue of a human causing pain to another creature for the purpose of sport or food. A trout-fishing cleric helps resolve differences, Iasgair's instincts assert themselves, and all ends well in Clarkson's world. Environmental preaching, anthropomorphized creatures, and predictable plot will annoy some readers; others will enjoy the lovely writing about nature and the cycle of life. Michele Leber
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