‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ by Paul Torday

With a  fresh and unusual story line, this clever book drew me in immediately. A wealthy sheikh in the Yemen involves British politicians, a fisheries expert, and an estate agent into a project that seems very likely to fail. The Yemen is not suited nor sustainable in climate or environment to salmon, and yet the project to introduce them continues. But can improbability and impossibility stop a miracle from happening?

The story is about more than fish…there is hope, faith and love, and the characters are believable. Torday’s style of telling the story through written narratives was effective, entertaining, and allowed for various points of view. My favourite parts of the book were the wise and hopeful reflections of the sheikh, like those in this trailer.

But the book did not have the Hollywood ending I was expecting, and perhaps that fits and is more realistic. Does the movie have a Hollywood ending? Now I have read the book I can find out!