Beyond the Dark, Satanic Mills: An ecocritical reading of 'A Kestrel for a Knave'

Barry Hines’ 1968 novel A Kestrel for a Knave is justly celebrated for its depiction of work- ing-class life in an English mining village. However, false assumptions about the role of ‘nature’ in the working-class experience have led critics to overlook the significance of the bird at the centre of the novel and the descriptions of the surrounding environment. A reading that foregrounds these aspects offers new insights, revealing a prescient anxiety about the way capitalism weakens relationships between human and nonhuman. The book is shown to be ahead of its time in its understanding that human flourishing depends on meaningful connection with the more-than-human world.