Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
Written as a 'report into the circumstances surrounding the decision to introduce salmon into the Yemen', this is a novel that is made up of emails, letters, diary extracts, records of Prime Minister's Question Time, interviews, and chapters from the memoirs of a fantastically weasely Peter Mandelson-type figure. The 'Yes Minister' comparisons are justified (and there is some brilliant, hilarious political and bureaucratic satire here), but at its heart it's the story of a hen-pecked, slightly pompous, middle-aged scientist who finds himself caught up in what seems like an impossible project, and of how this project changes his life. In the process he becomes an unlikely, and rather loveable hero, discovers true love for himself, finds himself both a pawn and then a victim of political spin, leaves his brilliantly horrible wife, and learns to believe in the impossible. And he takes the reader with him in the process' The author (a keen salmon fisherman himself) writes about salmon fishing with atmospheric reverence, deftly captures the hypocrisy of Western governments - who spot the PR angles of sending fish to the Middle East rather than soldiers - conveys the mindless bureaucracy of the civil service, and the government's skillful nurturing of deniability, and portrays a man who rather belatedly comes of age in extraordinary circumstances.
Paul Torday was born in 1946 and read English Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford. He is married with two sons by a previous marriage and has two stepsons. He has spent most of his life in industry, but in the last three years has found the time to write. For the last fifteen years he has also been a keen salmon fisherman, and as he lives close to the River North Tyne, he has been able to indulge in this enthusiasm. He lives in Northumberland and has often visited the Middle East.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780297851721 |
| ISBN 10 | 0297851721 |
| Title | Salmon Fishing in the Yemen |
| Author | Paul Torday |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Orion Publishing Co |
| Year published | 2007-02-01 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Prizes | Winner of Waverton Good Read Award 2008, Winner of Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2007, Short-listed for British Book Awards: Waterstones Newcomer of the Year Award 2008 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |