Darlington’s survey of the state of owls today is intimately staged, an account of her quest to see in situ the six species that live in her native England ... Her approach is not that of biologist, ecologist or scholar. Instead, her binoculars are those of a writer and a mother, both roles equally consequential to the resulting mix of popular science, travelogue and memoir ... Draws on literature, myth and folklore as well as the author’s experience as the fierce protector of a son suffering a baffling illness ... It is mainly the extra-scientific glitter that rescues the modern-day reader from despair, especially when applied with Darlington’s reserve. These sparing flights of poetic prose raise a shiver ... That is why Darlington’s occasional banalities land with a thud ... But more than merely trite is the frequently repeated suggestion that animals, to be worthy of consideration — more to the point, a book deal — must perform an educational service ... Despite that, The Wise Hours proves we don’t need life lessons to appreciate the world’s marvels.
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