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.

Absurdní, originální román plný mimořádně vtipných situací, ale i křehkých a dojemných míst, zaujme každého čtenáře, který touží po vskutku neobvyklé četbě.

Wilberforce je úspěšný podnikatel, který až po třicítce poprvé pozná přátele. Jeho život se otočí naruby. Prodá svou firmu, aby od zadluženého přítele velkoryse odkoupí dům s vinným sklepem. Wilberforcovo rozhodnutí stát se znalcem vína se zvrtne — stane se alkoholikem a přijde o majetek, přátele, manželku a nakonec i o rozum. Kniha rafinovaně odkrývá příběh samotáře, jenž nedokáže navázat normální vztahy.

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 up 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.

Hlavním hrdinou románu Mezipatro je Michael Gascoigne, jehož zdravotní stav - zejména psychická stránka - vyžaduje užívání léků. Po spontánním rozhodnutí, že léky brát přestane, protože mu svět už dlouhou dobu připadá černobílý, dostane jeho život až nečekanou škálu barev. Při návštěvě přátel v Irsku uvidí při prohlížení obrazů na zdi nejasně vymalovanou dívku v zeleném. Ta je jen přeludem, hlavní hrdina ji však během příběhu stále potkává v halucinacích. Jako by jí naslouchal a ona vedla jeho ruku … A ne bez následků. Kniha nesmírně čtivým a napínavým způsobem polemizuje o dvou tvářích jednoho člověka, které jsou v současné moderní společnosti tak běžné. Brit Paul Torday na sebe upozornil před čtyřmi lety románem Lov lososů v Jemenu. Absurdní, avšak zároveň citlivý román se stal prakticky ihned bestsellerem, který se prodával v devatenácti zemích světa. Ke spisovatelské činnosti se dostal v době, kdy pocítil potřebu změny po dvaceti letech strávených ve společnosti opravující lodní motory. Torday sám o sobě prohlašuje, že je fascinován "zlomenými životy". Zřejmě proto jsou hlavními postavami jeho románů lidé se zajímavým příběhem či životní cestou, kteří se svým způsobem vymykají společensky uznávanému normálu.

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.

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 persuades Eck to join the company. 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. But 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...

Two of Paul Torday's intriguing and beautifully written novellas in one book. BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL DEJA VU 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 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? 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 why has the previous vicar of St Joseph's ended up in a psychiatric hospital?

Absurdní, originální román plný mimořádně vtipných situací, ale i křehkých a dojemných míst, zaujme každého čtenáře, který touží po vskutku neobvyklé četbě.