The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar by Martin Windrow

An utterly charming work, perhaps best read at night when there are owls about.” ― Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. “Unlikely books are often very endearing-this is one such book. is all the more affecting because of its gruff understatement.” ― Liesl Schillinger, The New York Times Book Review a memoir of his friendship with this singular creature, interwoven with a natural history of her species and a close, not to say obsessive, description of her traits. “Anyone who thinks the bond between man and dog or cat is the supreme human-house pet attachment will have to reconsider after reading Martin Windrow's touching account of the bird who changed his life, a possessive and characterful tawny owl named Mumble who was his domestic companion for 15 action-packed years.

'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. Windrow offers a poignant and unforgettable reminiscence of his charmed years with his improbable pet, as well as an unexpected education in the paleontology, zoology, and sociology of owls. why?' my best answer was simply 'Why not?'' I tried to answer patiently, but I found it hard to come up with a short reply to the direct question 'Yes, but. When new acquaintances learned that they were talking to a book editor who shared a seventh-floor flat in a South London tower block with a Tawny Owl, some tended to edge away, rather thoughtfully. In The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar, Windrow recalls with wry humor their finer moments as well as the reactions of incredulous neighbors, the awkwardness of buying Mumble unskinned rabbit at Harrods Food Hall, and the grievous sense of loss when Mumble nearly escapes.Īs Windrow writes: 'Mumble was so much a part of my life in those days that the oddity of our relationship seldom occurred to me, and I only thought about it when faced with other people's astonishment. Adorable but with knife-sharp talons, Mumble became Windrow's closest, if at times unpredictable, companion, first in a South London flat and later in the more owl-friendly Sussex countryside. Martin Windrow was a war historian with little experience with pets when he adopted an owl the size of a corncob.

The story of an odd couple-a British military historian and the Tawny Owl with whom he lived for fifteen years

The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar by Martin Windrow