Raising Hare

NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - FINALIST FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE - A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, explored through the story of one woman's unlikely friendship with a wild hare.A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, TIME, The Economist, Scientific American, Slate, Kirkus, BookPage, Library Journal "Moving. . . . Impart[s] valuable lessons about slowing down and the beauty in the unexpected."--USA Today "A philosophical masterpiece ruminating on our place as human beings in nature."--Matt Haig, author of The Midnight Library "A perfect testimony to the transformative power of love. In learning to love an orphaned hare, Chloe Dalton learned to love the whole wild world. The great gift of this remarkable book is the way it teaches us to do the same."--Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows>In February 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare--a leveret--that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how difficult it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton's house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, weasels, feral cats, raptors, or even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death. Raising Hare chronicles their journey together while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness firsthand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.