A Kestrel for a Knave is a novel by English author Barry Hines, published in 1968. Set in an unspecified mining area in Northern England, the book follows Billy Casper, a young working-class boy troubled at home and at school, who finds and trains a kestrel whom he names "Kes".

Kes (/ k ɛ s /) is a 1969 British coming-of-age drama film directed by Ken Loach (credited as Kenneth Loach) and produced by Tony Garnett, based on the 1968 novel A Kestrel for a Knave, written by the Hoyland Nether–born author Barry Hines. [3]

Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk.

Jun 1, 2022 · Named one of the ten best British films of the century by the British Film Institute, Ken Loach’s Kes, is cinema’s quintessential portrait of working-class Northern England. Billy (an astonishingly naturalistic David Bradley) is a fifteen-year-old miner’s son whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with a spiritual escape from ...

Set in the small mining town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, "A Kestrel for a Knave" follows the life of Billy Casper, a troubled and disadvantaged teenager. Billy lives in a working-class neighborhood with his neglectful mother and abusive, unemployed brother.

Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave was published in 1968, and was made into one of the key British films of the sixties. Billy Casper is beaten by his drunken brother, ignored by his mother and failing at school.

May 30, 2013 · A new adaptation of the classic book A Kestrel for a Knave, Kes tells the story of a day in the life of Billy Casper; a 15-year-old boy about to leave school and determined not to end up working down the pit like his older brother Jud.