Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN"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 — From the Inside Flap Dr Alfred Jones has many reasons to be content with his life.xa0 His latest paper ‘Effects of Increased Water Acidity on the Caddis Fly Larva’ looks set to cause a stir on the pages of Trout & Salmon , his job as a fisheries scientist is satisfactory, and he and his wife, Mary, have just celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary – for which she gave him a replacement electric toothbrush. So why does he feel as though something is missing?When he is asked to become involved in a project to create a salmon river in the Highlands of the Yemen, Fred rejects the idea as absurd. But the proposal catches the eye of several senior British politicians, who feel it might distract the media’s attention from the less welcome stories coming out of the Middle East. It’s not long before the wheels of government start spinning, and the publicity-savvy Prime Minister is talking about the project on television. Fred finds himself forced to set aside his research and instead figure out how to fly ten thousand salmon to a desert country … and persuade them to swim there.The project is the brainchild of a Yemeni sheikh: a devout and wealthy man, whose love of salmon fishing and whose fervent, unwavering conviction that the impossible can be made possible, eventually, andxa0astonishingly, inspires Fred,xa0overpowering all his rational objections – and infuriating his wife. When Fred meets Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, the sheikh’s elegant and beautiful land agent, the cracks that have begun to form in his carefully managed existence grow even wider, and as they both embark on an extraordinary journey of faith – and fishing – the diffident Dr Jones will discover a sense of belief, and a capacity for love, and for heroism, that surprises himself, and all who know him. "Every so often a novel comes along that is quite original; think of Yann Martel's enchanting "Life of Pi"... [A] commentary on the value of belief to mankind. [T]hought-provoking and memorable." –The Economist What does it take to make us believe in the impossible? For Dr. Alfred Jones, life is a quiet mixture of civil service at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence and marriage to Mary—an ambitious, no-nonsense financier. But a strange turn of fate from an unexpected direction forces Jones to upend his existence and pursue another man's ludicrous dream. Is salmon fishing in the Yemen impossible? Maybe nothing is. "[A] journey from skepticism to belief."--The New York Times "The remarkable thing is that a book about so deeply serious a matter can make you laugh, all the way to a last twist…. [A] parable about the mystery of belief and its transforming power… Salmon Fishing is extraordinary indeed, and a triumph." -The Guardian "Torday's clear talent is in striking…a variety of notes, from soulful to satirical, and making them work as one bracing, bittersweet whole. -- Seattle Times PAUL TORDAY studied English literature at Pembroke College, Oxford, before embarking on a business career. He lives in Northumberland. This is his first book. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1THE ORIGINS OF THE YEMEN SALMON PROJECTxa0Fitzharris & PriceLand Agents & ConsultantsSt James’s StreetLondonxa0Dr Alfred JonesNational Centre for Fisheries ExcellenceDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsSmith SquareLondonxa015 Mayxa0Dear Dr Jonesxa0We have been referred to you by Peter Sullivan at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (Directorate for Middle East and North Africa). We act on behalf of a client with access to very substantial funds, who has indicated his wish to sponsor a project to introduce salmon, and the sport of salmon fishing, into the Yemen.xa0We recognise the challenging nature of such a project, but we have been assured that the expertise exists within your organisation to research and project manage such work, which of course would bring international recognition and very ample compensation for any fisheries scientists who became involved. Without going into any further details at this time, we would like to seek a meeting with you to identify how such a project could be initiated and resourced, so that we may report back to our client and seek further instructions.xa0We wish to emphasise that this is regarded by our client, who is a very eminent Yemeni citizen, as a flagship project for his country. He has asked us to make clear that there will be no unreasonable financial constraints. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office supports this project as a symbol of Anglo-Yemeni cooperation.xa0Yours sincerely(Ms) Harriet Chetwode-Talbotxa0xa0National Centre for Fisheries ExcellenceDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsSmith SquareLondonxa0Ms Harriet Chetwode-TalbotFitzharris & PriceLand Agents & ConsultantsSt James’s StreetLondonxa01 Junexa0Dear Ms Chetwode-Talbotxa0Dr Jones has asked me to thank you for your letter dated 15 May and reply as follows.xa0Migratory salmonids require cool, well-oxygenated water in which to spawn. In addition, in the early stages of the salmon life cycle, a good supply of fly life indigenous to northern European rivers is necessary for the juvenile salmon parr to survive. Once the salmon parr evolves into its smolt form, it then heads downriver and enters saltwater. The salmon then makes its way to feeding grounds off Iceland, the Faroes or Greenland. Optimum sea temperatures for the salmon and its natural food sources are between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius.xa0We conclude that conditions in the Yemen and its geographical location relatively remote from the North Atlantic make the project your client has proposed unfeasible, on a number of fundamental grounds. We therefore regret we will be unable to help you any further in this matter.xa0Yours sincerelyMs Sally Thomas (Assistant to Dr Jones)xa0xa0Office of the Director, National Centre for Fisheries ExcellenceFrom: David SugdenTo: Dr Alfred JonesSubject: Fitzharris & Price/ Salmon/ YemenDate: 3 Junexa0AlfredI have just received a call from Herbert Berkshire, who is private secretary to the parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.xa0The FCO view is very clear that this project is to be given our fullest consideration. Notwithstanding the very real practical difficulties in the proposal from Fitzharris & Price, of which as your director I am fully aware, the FCO feel that we should seek to give what support we can to this project.xa0Given the recent reductions in grant-in-aid funding for NCFE, we should not be too hasty to decline work which apparently connects us to excellent private sector funding sources.xa0YoursDavidxa0xa0MemoFrom: Alfred JonesTo: Director, NCFESubject: Salmon/ YemenDate: 3 Junexa0DavidI appreciate the points you have raised in your memo of today’s date. Having given the matter my fullest consideration, I remain unable to see how we could help Fitzharris & Price and their client. The prospect of introducing salmon to the wadis of the Hadramawt seems to me, quite frankly, risible.xa0I am quite prepared to back this up with the relevant science, should anyone at the FCO require further information on our grounds for not proceeding.xa0Alfredxa0xa0Office of the Director, National Centre for Fisheries ExcellenceFrom: David SugdenTo: Dr Alfred JonesSubject: Salmon/ YemenDate: 4 Junexa0Dr JonesPlease accept this memo as my formal instruction to proceed to the next stage of the Yemen salmon project with Fitzharris & Price. I would like you to meet Ms Harriet Chetwode-Talbot and receive a full briefing, following which you are to develop and cost an outline scope of work for this project for me to review and forward to the FCO.xa0I take full responsibility for this decision.xa0David Sugdenxa0xa0-----FROM: <[email protected]>DATE: 4 JuneTO: <[email protected]>SUBJECT: Yemen Salmon Projectxa0DavidCan we talk about this? I’ll pop round to your office after the departmental meeting.xa0Alfredxa0-----FROM: <[email protected]>DATE: 4 JuneTO: <[email protected]>SUBJECT: Jobxa0DarlingI am being put under unreasonable pressure by David Sugden to put my name to some totally insane project dreamed up by the FCO to do with salmon being introduced into the Yemen. There have been memos flying around on this for days and I suppose I thought it was so bizarre I didn’t even mention it to you last time we spoke. I popped into David S’s office just now and said, “Look, David, be reasonable. This project is not only totally absurd and scientifically nonsensical, but if we allow our name to be involved no one in the fisheries world will ever take us seriously again.”xa0Sugden was totally stone-faced. He said (pompously), “This one is coming from higher up. It isn’t just some minister at the FCO with a bee in his bonnet. It goes all the way to the top. You’ve had my instruction. Please get on with it.”xa0I have not been spoken to like that since I left school. I am seriously considering handing in my resignation.xa0LoveFredxa0PS When are you back from your management training course?xa0-----FROM: <[email protected]>DATE: 4 JuneTO: <[email protected]>SUBJECT: Financial realitiesxa0FredMy annual salary is £75,000 gross and yours is £45,561. Our combined net of taxed monthly income is £7,333 out of which our mortgage takes £3,111, rates, food and other household expenses a further £1,200, and that’s before we think about car costs, holidays, and your fishing extravagances. Resign your job? Don’t be a prat.xa0Maryxa0PS I am home on Thursday but I have to leave on Sunday for New York for a conference on Sarbanes-Oxley.xa0xa0MemoFrom: Andrew MacFadzean, principal private secretary to the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairsTo: Herbert Berkshire, private secretary to the parliamentary undersecretary of state, FCOSubject: Salmon/ Yemen Projectxa0HerbertOur masters tell us this project should be pushed on a bit. The sponsor is not a UK citizen, but the project can be presented as a template for Anglo-Yemeni cooperation, which of course has wider implications for perceptions of UK involvement in the Middle East.xa0I think you could quietly drop a word in the ear of David Sugden, whom I believe is the director of the fisheries people at DEFRA, that a successful outcome to this project might attract the attention of the committee putting forward recommendations for the next New Year honours list. Equally it is only fair to point out that an unsuccessful outcome might make it difficult to defend NCFE against further cuts in grant funding in the next round of negotiations with the Treasury for the new financial year. This might help get the right messages across. We have, of course, talked at a senior level to the appropriate people in DEFRA. Keep this off the record.xa0Lunch at the club at 1 P.M. tomorrow?xa0YrsAndyxa0xa0MemoFrom: Director of communications, prime minister’s officeTo: Dr Mike Ferguson, director veterinary, food & aquatic sciences, Chief Scientists’ GroupSubject: Yemen salmon projectxa0MikeThis is the sort of initiative that the prime minister really, really likes. We want some broad-brush comments on feasibility from you. We do not require anyone to say absolutely that it would work, only that there is no reason for not trying.xa0Peterxa0xa0MemoFrom: Dr Michael Ferguson, director veterinary, food & aquatic sciences, Chief Scientists’ GroupTo: Peter Maxwell, director of communications, prime minister’s officeSubject: Yemen salmon projectxa0Dear Mr MaxwellMonthly average rainfall in the western mountains of the Yemen is around four hundred millimetres in each of the summer months, and mean temperatures at elevations above two thousand metres fall to a range of between seven and twenty-seven degrees Celsius. This is not uncharacteristic of British summer weather and therefore we conclude that for short periods of the year conditions exist, particularly in the western provinces of the Yemen, which are not necessarily inimical to migratory salmonids.xa0We therefore speculate that a model based on the artificial release and introduction of salmonids into the wadi systems for short periods of the year, linked to a programme of trapping the salmon and returning them to cooler, saline water during other periods of... Read more