The Spawning Run

William Humphrey's delightful chronicle of an angling holiday in Wales celebrates two equally astonishing creatures: the Atlantic salmon and the British fly fisherman In order to mate in the same freshwater stream where it was spawned, the salmon swims one thousand miles or more and overcomes countless obstacles, from trawling nets to twelve-foot-high waterfalls. To catch the King of Fish at the end of its incredible journey, the Anglo-Saxon angler subjects his pride, his bank account, and his taste buds--poached milk, anyone?--to similar dangers. Nine out of ten salmon do not make it back to the sea once their spawning run is finished; nine out of ten sportsmen return to the hotel empty handed when the fishing day is done. And yet, year after year, they return to the rivers and streams of Great Britain--fish and angler both. Why? Perhaps "poor Holloway," who has yet to land a salmon after twenty spawning seasons but whose success rate with the bored wives of more skillful fisherman is scandalously impressive, knows the answer. An elegant blend of fishing narrative, travelogue, and character study, The Spawning Run is a hilarious and heartfelt tribute to the irresistible passions that unite us all: man, woman, and salmon. This ebook features an illustrated biography of William Humphrey including rare photos form the author's estate.

About the Author :
William Humphrey (1924-1997) was born in Clarksville, Texas. Neither of his parents went to school beyond the fifth grade, and during the height of the Great Depression his father hunted in the snake-infested swamplands of the Sulphur River to help feed the family. Humphrey left Clarksville at age thirteen and did not return for thirty-two years. By then he was the internationally acclaimed author of two extraordinary novels set in his hometown: Home from the Hill, a National Book Award finalist that became an MGM film starring Robert Mitchum, and its follow-up, The Ordways, which the New York Times called "exhilaratingly successful." Eleven highly praised works of fiction and nonfiction followed, including Farther Off from Heaven, a memoir about Humphrey's East Texas boyhood and his father's tragic death in an automobile accident; The Spawning Run and My Moby Dick, two delightful accounts of the joys and travails of fly fishing; and No Resting Place, a novel about the forced removal of the Cherokee nation along the Trail of Tears. A longtime professor of English and writing at Bard College and other schools, Humphrey was the recipient of awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Texas Institute of Arts and Letters.

Review :
"A pure delight." --The New York Times "William Humphrey made literature out of [fishing], and reeled me in as surely as if he had been the greatest angler of them all. Which, at least on the printed page, he may well have been." --The Washington Post "A very nearly perfect piece of writing." --Texas Monthly