From Richard Hines, the inspiration for Billy Casper in the classic novel A Kestrel for a Knave, comes the real-life story of one boy and his kestrel set against the backdrop of a crumbling mining community
'There is no way but gentlenesse to redeeme a Hawke' Edmund Bert, 1619
In 1968, Penguin published a novel about a young boy's relationship with a kestrel. Made into a film by Ken Loach and set as a GCSE key text, A Kestrel for a Knave has since become a classic, widely read across the UK by schoolchildren and adults alike. What few people know, though, is that the author, Barry Hines, took his inspiration from his younger brother, Richard.
Barry and Richard both grew up in Hoyland Common, a South Yorkshire mining village, and they share memories of spoil heaps and coal dust, listening out for klaxons at the end of mine shifts and whispered details of accidents. But after the 11+ exams, their paths diverged dramatically. While Barry passed and was sent to grammar school, with the belief that university would follow, Richard failed and was left without much hope of academic achievement.
Crushed by a system that had swiftly and permanently branded him a knave, Richard was adrift. Until one morning, walking in the grounds of a ruined medieval manor, he came across kestrels nesting in the walls. Instantly captivated but without a working-class role model to learn from, he sought whatever ancient texts the local library could offer on the subject of falconry, and improvised by buying dog leads for tresses and getting fatty meats from his local butcher for food. And it was in bringing up and training of kestrels that Richard discovered a purpose again.
No Way But Gentlenesse is a moving tale of cultures lost to time and the true tale of one boy's attempt to find salvation in the natural world.
