Promotional Information

A Sunday Times bestseller Read on Book at Bedtime on Radio 4 for two weeks on hardback publication Rights sold in 18 countries Paul Torday's new book, THE INHERITANCE OF WILBERFORCE will be published by W&N in Spring 2008 Paperback to include Reading Group Notes 'A wonderful novel - a cry for humanity in our target-driven spin-riddled world' Marina Lewycka, author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 'This highly original novel blends satire with gentle humanity in a tale of what happens when idealism meets self-serving politics and bungling bureaucracy...A stunning debut' Daily Mail '[Salmon Fishing...] captivates the grumpiest reader within moments' Daily Telegraph '[A] delightfully funny debut...It's funny, ambitious, multi-layered and quirkily imaginative' Scotsman 'An entertaining and successful debut... it is warmly recommended to anyone searching for feelgood comedy with surprising bite' Sunday Telegraph

About the Author

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.

Reviews

"A brilliant satire, leavened by genuine passion for its protagonist and his sport" -- REBECCA SEAL OBSERVER "A delight ... Paul Torday's sparkling debut uses spoof parliamentary papers to tell a splendidly dotty tale" -- SALLY COUSINS SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Utterly charming and extremely funny" IRISH TIMES

"A brilliant satire, leavened by genuine passion for its protagonist and his sport" -- REBECCA SEAL OBSERVER "A delight ... Paul Torday's sparkling debut uses spoof parliamentary papers to tell a splendidly dotty tale" -- SALLY COUSINS SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Utterly charming and extremely funny" IRISH TIMES

In Torday's winningly absurdist debut, Dr. Alfred Jones feels at odds with his orderly life as a London fisheries scientist and husband to the career-driven Mary, with whom he shares a coldly dispassionate relationship. Just as Mary departs for a protracted assignment in Geneva, Alfred gets consulted on a visionary sheik's scheme to introduce salmon, and salmon-angling, to the country of Yemen. Alfred is deeply skeptical (salmon are cold-water fish that spawn in fresh water; Yemen is hot and largely desert), but the project gains traction when Peter Maxwell, the prime minister's director of communications, seizes on it as a PR antidote to negative press related to the Iraq war. Alfred is pressed by his superiors to meet with the sheik's real estate rep, the glamorous young Harriet, and embarks on a yearlong journey to realize the sheik's vision of spiritual peace through fly-fishing for the people of Yemen. British businessman and angler Torday captures Alfred's emerging humanity, Maxwell's antic solipsism, Mary's calculating neediness and Harriet's vulnerability, presenting their voices through diaries, e-mails, letters and official interviews conducted after the doomed venture's surprisingly tragic outcome. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.