Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A Novel

Paul Torday

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN:
  9780547416250
• Print ISBN:
  9780156034562
• Subtopic: Literature General

An unassuming scientist takes an unbelievable adventure in the Middle East in this "extraordinary" novel—the inspiration for the major motion picture starring Ewan McGregor ( The Guardian).
 
Dr. Alfred Jones lives a quiet, predictable life. He works as a civil servant for the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence in London; his wife, Mary, is a determined, no-nonsense financier; he has simple routines and unassuming ambitions. Then he meets Muhammad bin Zaidi bani Tihama, a Yemeni sheikh with money to spend and a fantastic—and ludicrous—dream of bringing the sport of salmon fishing to his home country.
 
Suddenly, Dr. Jones is swept up in an outrageous plot to attempt the impossible, persuaded by both the sheikh himself and power-hungry members of the British government who want nothing more than to spend the sheikh's considerable wealth. But somewhere amid the bureaucratic spin and Yemeni tall tales, Dr. Jones finds himself thinking bigger, bolder, and more impossibly than he ever has before.
 
Told through letters, emails, interview transcripts, newspaper articles, and personal journal entries, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is "a triumph" that both takes aim at institutional absurdity and gives loving support to the ideas of hopes, dreams, and accomplishing the impossible ( The Guardian).

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
• THE ORIGINS OF THE YEMEN SALMON PROJECT
• EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF DR ALFRED JONES: HIS WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
• FEASIBILITY OF INTRODUCING SALMON INTO THE YEMEN
• EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF DR JONES: HIS MEETING WITH SHEIKH MUHAMMAD
• EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF DR JONES: MARITAL ISSUES MAY HAVE CLOUDED HIS JUDGEMENT
• CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN CAPTAIN ROBERT MATTHEWS AND MS HARRIET CHETWODE-TALBOT
• PRESS COMMENT
• INTERCEPTS OF AL-QAEDA E-MAIL TRAFFIC
• INTERVIEW WITH PETER MAXWELL, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
• TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH THE PRIME MINISTER, THE RT HON. JAY VENT MP, ON BBC1 THE POLITICS SHOW
• CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW WITH PETER MAXWELL
• E-MAIL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN DAVID SUGDEN, NCFE, AND MR TOM PRICE-WILLIAMS, HEAD OF FISHERIES, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
• EXTRACT FROM THE DIARY OF DR JONES: HIS RETURN TO GLEN TULLOCH
• INTERVIEW WITH DR ALFRED JONES: HIS MEETING WITH MR PETER MAXWELL AND SHEIKH MUHAMMAD
• PETER MAXWELL IS INTERVIEWED FOR THE “TIME OFF” COLUMN OF THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 4 SEPTEMBER
• INTERVIEW WITH MS HARRIET CHETWODE-TALBOT
• EXTRACT FROM HANSARD
• THE TERMINATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT OF DR JONES
• CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN CAPTAIN ROBERT MATTHEWS AND MS HARRIET CHETWODE-TALBOT
• INTERCEPTS OF AL-QAEDA E-MAIL TRAFFIC
• EXTRACT FROM HANSARD
• EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF DR JONES: HE VISITS THE YEMEN
• EXTRACT FROM HANSARD
• CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MS CHETWODE-TALBOT AND HERSELF
• EXTRACT FROM PETER MAXWELL’S UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY, A HELMSMAN AT THE SHIP OF STATE
• SCRIPT OF TV PILOT FOR PRIZES FOR THE PEOPLE
• EXTRACT FROM PETER MAXWELL’S UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY
• EVIDENCE OF A MARITAL CRISIS BETWEEN DR AND MRS JONES
• INTERVIEW WITH DR ALFRED JONES: DINNER AT THE RITZ
• DR JONES FAILS TO FIND A DATE IN HIS DIARY TO MEET MRS JONES
• EXTRACT FROM PETER MAXWELL’S UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY
• DR JONES’S TESTIMONY OF EVENTS THAT OCCURRED AT THE LAUNCH OF THE YEMEN SALMON PROJECT
• CONCLUSIONS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FOREIGN AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE
• Glossary of terms used in the extracts
• Author’s Note
• About the Author