Natural
CLASSIC
Each month we ask one of our experts to tell us
what wildlife book - novel, guide or textbook -has most influenced
him or her. Here, Martha Holmes, marine biologist, TV presenter
and film producer, reveals all.
I’m a very keen reader, but selecting the book with a natural-history
theme which has influenced me most was some challenge, until I thought
back to my childhood. Then it was easy.
Where the book came from is a mystery, and I have never met anyone
who has heard of it. It is Rita Richie’s The Golden Hawks of Genghis
Khan. I read it when I was about 10 years old and I remember to
this day the effect it had on me.
Set in 1218, it is a story of a rich boy whose parents are dead.
He is growing up in the splendid city of Samarkand and has a fascination
for hawks, those magnificent hunting birds. There is a great deal
of mystery surrounding his past, but he is led to believe that a
band of Mongols killed his father to steal a rare type of bird -
the golden hawk. Determined to get these birds back, he runs away
from Samarkand and joins a group of people travelling to the country
centred on the city of Karakorum, where the great Mongol chief Genghis
Khan was then based.
The book combines adventure, mystery, honour, friendship, danger,
suffering - all seen through the eyes of the young hero, Jalair.
I still find this fantasy a thrilling read. Jalair’s great love
for the birds was enviable and inspiring. But most of all it was
the sense of place that stayed with me.
The book gives the reader an idea of the vast open spaces of central
Asia and its huge skies, without the use of the long descriptive
passages that would bore a child. There are no boundaries. The emptiness
of the Gobi Desert, the Tian Shan mountains and the excitement of
riding through forests and over rolling hills fascinated me. The
book gave me more than hawks, horses and a desire for wild places.
It also gave me a set of values. The Mongols in The Golden Hawks
were totally uninterested in possessions, a characteristic that
is absolutely essential for people who spent their lives travelling
from place to place. They were never mean. Generosity, goodwill
and optimism were highly valued, hard work was enjoyed and the rest
was pure fun. They simply loved life.
Two years ago, I fulfilled a life-long ambition and went riding
in Mongolia’s mountains. I was not disappointed. |
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