Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Paul Torday

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 forever. 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.
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Girl on the Landing

Girl on the Landing

Paul Torday

Paul Torday

Review'The best book of the year...a truly astonishing take on what appears on the surface to be mental illness and turns out to be something far darker' -- Virginia Blackburn SUNDAY EXPRESS 'This is an exciting novel - part love story, part psychological thriller - which confounds your expectations as it tightens its grip.' -- John Koski YOU, MAIL ON SUNDAY 'The story of Michael Gascoigne's strange affinity with the wilderness unravels slowly, tantalisingly...' GUARDIAN 'Torday carries off a surprising, suspenseful update of Stevenson in the 21st-century Jekyll-and-Hyde thriller.' OBSERVER 'Torday is clearly having fun' SUNDAY TIMES 'A highly unusual fusion of atmospheric ghost story and sensitive protrayal of mental illness' GOOD BOOK GUIDE Product DescriptionMichael is dressing for dinner at a friend's country house in Ireland. As he descends the 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. She realises 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 is threatening to destroy everything, and everyone, he has ever loved.
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The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers

The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers

Paul Torday

Paul Torday

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. Summers is clearly something of a freeloader but 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. In the meantime, Eck begins to suspect that the company he is working for is not what it appears to be.
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More Than You Can Say

More Than You Can Say

Paul Torday

Paul Torday

The bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN returns with a Buchan-esque thriller. “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.
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