Paul Torday

This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist - for whom diary-notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' - who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen - a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history for ever. With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters - including a visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred's devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon - SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

The girl on the landing

Paul

Late one summer evening, Wilberforce - rich, young, and work-obsessed - makes a detour on his way home and unwittingly takes the first step on a journey that will change his life. His uncharacteristically impulsive act leads him to the vast undercroft of Caerlyon Hall, and the domain of Francis Black, a place where wine, hospitality and affection flow freely. Through Francis, Wilberforce is initiated into a life rich in the promise of friendship and adventure, where, through his new set of friends, the possibility of finding acceptance, and even falling in love, seems finally to be within his reach. Wilberforce becomes a willing pupil to Francis, and in the cellars of Caerlyon he nurtures a new-found passion for wine. But even the finest wine can leave a bitter aftertaste, and Wilberforce will learn the undercroft's unpalatable secrets, and that passion comes at a price. The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce is a dazzling, haunting story of obsession and addiction, of loyalty and betrayal.

The Irresistible Inheritance Of Wilberforce

a novel in four vintages

The irresistible inheritance of Wilberforce

Legacy of Hartlepool Hall

La Pesca de salmón en Yemen

Hector Chetwode-Talbot, Eck to his friends, has left the army after a rather nasty moment in Colombia. From a privileged background, he is slightly at a loss as to what to do next, when he is approached by an old army pal, Bilbo Mountwilliam. Bilbo runs an investment fund company and business is booming. Bilbo persuades Eck to join the company as a 'greeter', for a person with Eck's list of contacts is an easy route to a rich seam of moneyed clients. All Eck has to do is supply the contacts with entertainment and large G&Ts and then the fund managers will do the rest. Soon Eck is able to buy himself a luxury sports car and decadent flat in the city. All that is missing in his life is a woman. It is on a golfing trip to France with his friend Henry Newark that Eck first meets Charlie Summers, a fly-by-night entrepreneur who is hiding out in France after a 'misunderstanding with Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue'. Charlie's latest scheme is to import Japanese dog food into the UK. Henry casually mentions that Charlie should 'look us up' if he is ever in Gloucestershire. Not only does Charlie Summers look Henry up, he arrives with his suitcase, intent on staying with the Newarks and relaunching his dog food business in their area. But with the financial crash looming, Eck begins to ask himself if they are so very different...

The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers

The novel begins as Michael, a middle-aged man of means, is dressing for dinner at a friend's country house in Ireland. As he descends the grand staircase, he spots a small painting of a landing with an old linen press and the white marble statue of an angel. In the background is a woman clad in a dark green dress. During dinner, Michael comments on the painting to his hosts but they say there is no woman in the picture. When Michael goes up to bed later, he sees that they are correct. This is only the first in a series of incidents that lead Michael to question his grip on reality. His wife Elilzabeth is unsettled by the changes she sees in a man she originally married because he was dependable and steady, not because she loved him. Suddenly she is aware that she has never really known Michael and as he changes, she sees glimpses of someone she could fall in love with. Michael, in the meantime, is disturbed by events at his family's ancestral home in the wilds of Scotland and by a past that he is threatening to destroy everything, and everyone, he has ever loved.

The Girl on the Landing

"Tell you what, Leader, do you want to double your money?" "Double or quits?" "Of course double or quits. I'm having lunch at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford tomorrow with my uncle. If you can join us by one o'clock sharp tomorrow, I'll tear up this cheque and write you another for six thousand pounds" It is a bet Richard Gaunt cannot resist - all he has to do is walk from London to Oxford in under twelve hours. As an ex-soldier he is up to the challenge. But what starts as a harmless bet turns into something altogether different when Richard is taken hostage by a mysterious stranger, Mr Khan, who makes him a highly unusual proposal. What he offers in return could transform Richard's life. Traumatised by a tour of duty in Iraq, Richard feels he has nothing to lose. The love of his life won't speak to him, he has lost every job he ever had and his friends have vanished. He therefore decides to accept Khan's strange request - never imagining the places it will take him.

More Than You Can Say

An extraordinary, beguiling bestselling tale of fly-fishing and political spinning, of unexpected heroism and late-blooming love... This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist - for whom diary-notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' - who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen - a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history for ever. With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters - including a visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred's devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon - SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" is the whimsical story of an unlikely hero who discovers true love, finds himself first a pawn and then a victim of political spin, and learns to believe in the impossible.

From the bestselling author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a haunting novella that introduces one of the most memorable characters from Torday's forthcoming novel Light Shining in the Forest. John Elliott is the recently appointed vicar of St Joseph's - a dilapidated church with a congregation of sixteen and a leaky roof. Having entered the Church more by default than through any great calling, he struggles to inject some life into his ailing parish. His wife Christine longs for them to escape the endless rounds of coffee mornings and cake sales. Then Theo, a child at her school, starts to exhibit strange marks on his hands and feet that vanish almost as soon as they have appeared. What has produced these marks - is it physical violence or something stranger? And why has the previous vicar of St Joseph's ended up in a psychiatric hospital?

A Novella

Theo

A modern A TALE OF TWO CITIES by the bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN. Hector Chetwode-Talbot, Eck to his friends, has left the army and is slightly at a loss as to what to do next, when he is approached by an old army pal, Bilbo Mountwilliam. Bilbo runs an investment fund company and business is booming. Bilbo persuades Eck to join the company as a 'greeter' for moneyed clients. All Eck has to do is supply the contacts with entertainment and large G&Ts and then the fund managers will do the rest. Soon Eck is able to buy himself a luxury sports car and decadent flat. It is on a golfing trip to France that Eck first meets Charlie Summers, a fly-by-night entrepreneur whose latest scheme is to import Japanese dog food into the UK. Soon Charlie lands on Eck's doorstep with his suitcase, intent on staying and relaunching his dog food business in the area. But with the financial crash looming, Eck begins to ask himself if they are so very different...

The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers

'..the best estimate we have shows that every five minutes a child goes missing in the UK' Norman Stokoe has spent his life climbing the greasy pole. A career civil servant, he knows his way around. He can quote the numbers. He can provide the references. So when the new government decides to appoint regional 'Children's Czars', Norman is an obvious candidate. He settles down in his new leather chair behind his new desk overlooking the River Tyne and waits for the green light to begin his mission. The green light never comes. What does happen is that two children go missing. Norman has built a career being 'strategic rather than operation' but now, faced with a campaigning journalist and a distraught mother, he is forced to become involved. Meanwhile Geordie Nixon, working deep in the wilderness of Kielder forest is seeing strange things. Are they for real or is he losing his mind? And what place is there in this brave new world for the miraculous?

Light Shining in the Forest

Piers Torday

Political chaos, MPs turning on each other, expediency and skulduggery at the highest echelons of government? No, not Brexit, but a brilliant political satire from the bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN Andrew Landford, MP is driving home one night along a dark country lane when a barn owl flies into his windscreen. It is an accident, nothing more. But Andrew sits on a parliamentary committee concerned with the protection of endangered species, and the death of the owl threatens to destroy his hopes of reaching No. 10. Also in the car is Andrew's old Oxford friend and political adviser, Charles Fryerne. Will they be able to keep the crime under wraps, or will circumstances conspire against them? Paul Torday's last novel, and completed by his son Piers, this is a timely reminder that in politics, nothing is sacred... 'A pleasure to read' Daily Express 'Skeweringly accurate' Evening Standard 'A compelling blend of morality and satire' Sunday Mirror 'Witty and well-crafted - a delightful gothic fantasy' Guardian

From the author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a witty tale of scandal and subterfuge

The Death of an Owl

In BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL DÉJÀ VU, Bobby Clarke arrives at a hotel on the Mediterranean shore. A former MP, unseated by the expenses scandal, he is spending time abroad to recover from a major illness. The other purpose of his stay is to write his memoirs in order to demonstrate that he was unfairly treated, having valiantly served his country for 30 years. He settles into his new surroundings but it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems. For a start Bobby seems to have no memory of the immediate past. Each time he sits down to continue his memoirs he finds only a blank page. Every morning as he comes downstairs the same scene replays itself in front of him: a young woman and her son pass him on the stairs. And what has become of his wife? In THEO, John Elliott is the recently appointed vicar of St Joseph's - a dilapidated church with a congregation of 16 and a leaky roof. Having entered the Church more by default than through any great calling, he struggles to inject some life into his ailing parish. His wife Christine longs for them to escape the endless rounds of coffee mornings and cake sales. Then Theo, a child at her school, starts to exhibit strange marks on his hands and feet that vanish almost as soon as they have appeared. What has produced these marks - is it physical violence or something stranger? And what really did happen to the previous vicar of St Joseph's...

Breakfast at the Hotel Déjà vu and Theo

Two Eerie Tales of Suspense

Hartlepool Hall has been in Ed's family for generations - but is that about to change, and who is the mysterious Lady Alice? Ed Hartlepool has been living in self-imposed exile for five years, but with a settlement regarding his inheritance looming, he must return to his ancestral seat, Hartlepool Hall. On his return, he discovers that his father has left him, along with the house, a seven million pound tax bill, two massive overdrafts, an 80-year-old butler, and a vast country estate that is creaking at the seams. Not only that, but there is a strange woman in residence - Lady Alice - who seems to have made herself very much at home. With the debts mounting, it seems that Ed's only recourse is to turn to his friend Annabel's new boyfriend, a property developer who plans to turn Hartlepool Hall into luxury flats and a golf course. But can Ed save his inheritance without such a drastic move? And is Lady Alice really the person she claims to be?

The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall

From the author of the bestselling SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN (released as a film starring Ewan McGregor), a tale of the unexpected... Bobby Clarke arrives at a hotel on the Mediterranean shore. He is a former MP, unseated by the expenses scandal, who is now spending time abroad to recover from a major illness. The other purpose of his stay is to write his memoirs in order to demonstrate that he was unfairly pilloried for 'a minor accounting error', having valiantly served his country for 30 years. He settles into his new surroundings but soon it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. For a start Bobby seems to have no memory of the immediate past. Each time he sits down to continue his memoirs he finds only a blank page. Every morning as he comes downstairs the same scene replays itself in front of him: a young woman and her son pass him on the stairs. And what has become of his wife?

An ebook-exclusive novella

Breakfast at the Hotel Déjà vu

From the author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, a dark tale about a failing politician and the search for two missing children. Includes Reading Group Notes. Norman Stokoe has just been appointed Children's Czar by the new government. He sells his flat and moves up north to take up the position. However before his first salary cheque has even hit his bank account, new priorities are set for the government department for which he works. The Children's Czar network is put on hold but it is too late to reverse the decision to employ Norman. So he is given a P.A. and a spacious office in a new business park on the banks of the Tyne. He settles down in his new leather chair behind his new desk, to wait for the green light to begin his mission. The green light never comes. What does happen is that two children go missing. As Children's Czar, surely this case should fall within his remit, but Norman has built a career on doing nothing, on stamping pieces of paper with 'send to the relevant department'. Now, faced with a campaigning journalist and a distraught mother, he is forced to become involved. The search will take him to dark places and will make him ask questions about the system he is supposed to uphold.

Paul Torday

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