Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton
Details
Hi all! Our first book of 2026 will be Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. This book is a memoir by Chloe Dalton about her unexpected bond with a wild hare she rescued during the COVID-19 lockdown in rural England.
Here are some supplemental materials to the book. Feel free to watch/listen to these in addition to reading the book, or if you can’t get the book read entirely in time, use these to be able to contribute to the discussion.
Podcast: https://intothewild.podbean.com/e/bonus-episode-raising-hare-with-chloe-dalton/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjEb9SH7Dgs
Synopsis:
Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and bounded around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, more than two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.
In February 2021, Dalton stumbled upon a newborn hare 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.