RAISING HARE

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  • ‘Imagine holding a baby hare and bottle feeding it. Imagine it living under your roof, drumming on your duvet to attract your attention. Imagine the adult hare, over two years later, sleeping in the house by day, running freely in the fields by night and raising leverets of its own in your garden. This happened to me.’

    Raising Hare tells the story of the unusual experience of raising a leveret to adulthood and beyond. Drawing from the extraordinary opportunity of observing a hare at close quarters in a relationship of trust - as it comes and goes freely from the wild - it is an appeal for better understanding, appreciation and protection for hares wherever they are found. Featuring illustrations by. Denise Nestor. Cover Design by Gill Healey Audiobook read by Louise Brealey

    ILLUSTRATOR: DENISE NESTOR
    DESIGN: GILL HEELEY
    AUDIOBOOK READ BY: LOUISE BREALEY

  • INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES,‍ ‍NEW YORK TIMES & DER SPIEGEL BESTSELLER

    WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING, 2025

    WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2025

    WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD FOR NON FICTION, 2025

    SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION, 2025

    SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS’ BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2025

    SHORTLISTED FOR THE HATCHARDS AND BIOGRAPHERS’ CLUB BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE, 2025

    A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE HAY FESTIVAL, SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND iNEWS, 2024

  • An illustrated, specially adapted middle-grade children’s edition of Chloe Dalton’s bestselling Raising Hare – featuring a new afterword by Michael Morpurgo – will be published in Autumn, 2026.

  • For more information about international editions, click HERE

  • ‘A glorious book – for its warmth, its precision, its joy. It’s not dreamy or romantic about the natural world – it’s something far better than that’

    KATHERINE RUNDELL

    ‘More than a wildlife memoir, it’s a philosophical masterpiece ruminating on our place as human beings in nature.’

    CLARE BALDING

    ‘Raising Hare is an astounding achievement. Not since I read Salar the Salmon by Henry Williamson have I witnessed such insight into a creature of the wild. This is a great and important tale for our times, for all of us, in the same league as Ted Hughes, Alice Oswald, Thomas Hardy and indeed Henry Williamson himself. I am so pleased Chloe Dalton told us about raising hare. I will not forget it and nor will anyone who reads it’

    MICHAEL MORPURGO

    ‘Written with tenderness and lyricism from someone who has taken the time to reconnect to nature and the wild within. A beautiful book.’

    ANGELINA JOLIE

    ‘This book is exceptional. It made me smile out loud, such a magical tale of a world turned upside down by a fragile wild thing – a leveret lost, a life found. A simply wonderful story, profoundly beautiful’

    CHRIS PACKHAM

    ‘A beautiful book that makes you think profoundly about how we so often tune out the natural world around us. Chloe Dalton is a tender, curious, wise, mind-expanding guide, connecting readers with the wild we humans once knew so well. I will be recommending this to everyone’

    MATT HAIG

    ‘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

    ‘This book tells a story of true friendship with great respect . . . If you love animals, this book is incredibly beautiful and moving and helped me see nature differently. I think it’s the best non-fiction book of the year.’

    ELIZABETH GILBERT

    ‘Moving. . . . Dalton’s affectionate attention to the hare ends up magnifying her attention to the world itself, deepening her love for it, changing how she relates to any one thing constellating the dazzling wholeness of everything. . . . An attention-annealing, life-deepening read.’

    MARIA POPOVA

    ‘I am so grateful to have this special book to read right now. It is so good. So glorious. So quiet. So cozy. So perfectly written.’

    AMY SEDARIS

    ‘If you need a dose of sweet, calm sanity and deep connection to nature, this is the book for you. Chloe Dalton’s writing is as captivating, stirring, and serene as the hare she raises. I loved every page and will be sending copies to all my friends and relatives.’

    JENNIFER ACKERMAN

    ‘Chloe Dalton didn’t suspect that finding a helpless baby hare would be a great turning point in her life. Her adrenaline-filled work in government policy didn’t prepare her for how raising this small, wild, helpless creature would open her eyes to a new world—one that is around us all the time. She didn’t know that her life of words would be changed when she realized how much can be communicated in silence. Fortunately for us, Dalton shares these rich and profound experiences in this beautiful book.’

    CARL SAFINA

    ‘Hares need their own enthusiasts, and they won’t find one kinder or more curious than Chloe Dalton.’

    CATHERINE RAVEN

A small, fluffy brown rabbit sitting on a beige surface near a colorful striped bag.
A hare lying in the grass with green blades surrounding it.
A brown hare sitting on grass next to a paved surface.
A hare stretching with front legs extended and hind legs bent, on a grassy field.
A brown hare resting on a stone wall with a green grass field in the background.
A hare peeking inside through a small dog door in a white door.
A hare with gray and brown fur and large ears standing in a grassy field during sunset.
Brown hare among green foliage and white flowers.

PLEASE NOTE…

Chloe Dalton’s experience with a hare was an unusual one, and she went to all lengths required to ensure that the hare remained a wild animal. She would caution strongly against any attempt to keep a hare as a pet, and recommends following the RSPCA advice on hares and rabbits in the wild which can be found in the button below