With equal measures of passion, irreverence, and hilarity, Martin Donovan salts a traditional fly-fishing setting with an oddball cast of characters, props, and predicaments.At age fifteen, Donovan graduated from Testwood School in Southampton, England and set out on a ten-year odyssey of traveling the world, working odd jobs, and pining for an eventual means of returning home to the chalkstreams where he fished and explored as a child.Through connections and persistence he eventually worked his way into the exclusive niche of riverkeeping and landed a job working the Nursling beats on the famed River Test.Keeper, is Donovan's rollicking account of his antics abroad, and two decades of tending rivers, coddling fish, and guiding anglers. His stories are exceptional, but what ultimately sets them apart is his wry voice and his bracing departure from the stereotypical English fly-fishing memoir. He introduces us to gentried English dry-fly purists and mobs of bait soaking carp-catchers. He writes about prominent London attorneys, cantankerous skinheads, redneck clock peddlers, and booze-swilling farmers. While fly-fishing for trout and salmon are Donovan's beloved diversions, he also has an eclectic fixation with derelict motorbikes, chainsaw carpentry, hitchhiking, canned beer, and curry houses.While some angling traditionalists may lament that all of the great stories have long-since been written about the English chalkstreams, we are proud to present an engaging addendum and a fresh new voice from the birthplace of fly fishing.

Keeper, A Life Amongst Fishes and Those Who Catch Them

Travel

Martin Donovan

Travel Writing

Departure Publishing LLC

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Martin Donovan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Martin Donovan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Martin Donovan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Keeper, A Life Amongst Fishes and Those Who Catch Them