Book review: ‘Raising Hare’

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton. Pantheon, 2025. Hardcover, 289 pages.

Ordering information

While walking in the English countryside near her home during the pandemic, political adviser Chloe Dalton came across a newborn leveret (aka a baby hare) in the middle of a road. Assuming the newborn was abandoned and at risk of dying, Chloe took her home and called a conservation expert for advice on how to raise the leveret until she could be released back into the wild. Although Chloe was informed that the leveret would most likely die, she quickly researched information and set about trying to keep the baby alive.

So began Chloe’s adventure in raising the leveret she called Hare. The memoir that came out of that endeavor, Raising Hare, is a beautiful exploration of nature and one of its inhabitants as Hare grew and flourished under the author’s care. Always mindful that her charge would be returning to the wilderness surrounding her home, Chloe was careful not to touch Hare more than absolutely necessary to provide care, treat her as a pet, or give her a name other than Hare.

Hare, however, seemed to have other ideas.  As she grew, Hare enjoyed outdoor time in Chloe’s garden and, in maturity, spent her nights in the natural habitat of fields with other hares and wildlife. Usually, though, she preferred to eat and sleep in Chloe’s house, to which she had free access.

Watching Hare grow and become the outdoor creature she was meant to be, Chloe observed and mused upon the topics of domestication vs. wildness and the appropriate place of humans in the natural world. Her keen observation of Hare and other wild creatures is meticulous and meditative. An unusually perceptive chronicler, Chloe Dalton has written a book that will stay with readers long after they read the final page.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill in 2025. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.