“Captivating and inspiring … grounded and uplifting, accessible yet aspirational – a pleasurable bend of conflicts that demonstrates the power of nature and the good that comes from nurturing one’s passions”
Publisher’s Weekly
Tag: Review
Review – John Sutherland, The Times
“A moving memoir sheds new light on a celebrated film”
John Sutherland, The Times
Review – Mary Whipple, Seeing The World Through Books
“Rarely, if ever, have I had such a feeling of intimacy with an author as he tells me about his life and draws me in completely. Ultimately the author, having entertained and captivated the reader throughout the book, moves on to the conclusion, leaving in his wake readers who have lived his life with him and found their own lives enlarged by the contact.”
Mary Whipple, Seeing The World Through Books
Review – Miriam Darlington, BBC Wildlife
“The prose is as honed and svelte as the kestrels themselves, searingly honest, and sharp as a raptor’s eye. A poignant life story that will grip you from the first to the very last page, and make you well up with tears and cry with laughter”
Miriam Darlington, BBC Wildlife
Review – Charlotte Heathcoat, Sunday Express
“Poetic, yearning”
Charlotte Heathcoat, Sunday Express
Review – Mark Cocker, The Mail on Sunday
“A powerful evocation of northern working-class life in the Fifties and Sixties …This book is never bitter. On the contrary, it is the work of a man who understands that the important things in life require patience and that the most powerful means of persuasion is gentleness”
Mark Cocker, The Mail on Sunday
Review – British Birds
“No Way But Gentlenesse pulls no punches on the issues of class and entitlement – or lack of – that also made Kes so groundbreaking… As [Hines] describes so evocatively in the book, he too was earmarked in early life and by an inflexible education system to a lesser lot in life… Falconer or just plain old bird enthusiast, if you can love something that isn’t giving very much love in return, perhaps that is the greatest love… And if you can set a bird free, as Richard did for the Kestrels immortalised on film, well, even better. Letting go might even be the greatest gentlenesse”
British Birds
Review – Kirkus Reviews
“A delightful story of a boy, his birds, and his pursuit of knowledge in spite of society’s dictates”
Kirkus Reviews
Review – The Yorkshire Post
“Beautifully written … throughout Hines’ memoir there’s a sense of championing the underdog, whether it be the loving attention he paid to his kestrels as a child or the racism he found himself appalled by when he volunteered overseas in Nigeria”
The Yorkshire Post
Review – BBC Countryfile
“The issue of class weaves through the pages … A moving story of a man and the bird he loves”
BBC Countryfile