As a child in the 1960s, Luke Jennings was fascinated by the rivers and lakes around his Sussex home. Beneath their surfaces, it seemed to him, waited alien and mysterious worlds. With library books as his guide, he applied himself to the task of learning to fish.

His progress was slow, and for years he caught nothing. But then a series of teachers presented themselves, including an inspirational young intelligence officer, from whom he learnt stealth, deception and the art of the dry fly. So began an enlightening but often dark-shadowed journey of discovery. It would lead to bright streams and wild country, but would end with his mentor's capture, torture and execution by the IRA.

Blood Knots is about angling, about great fish caught and lost, but it is also about friendship, honour and coming of age. As an adult Jennings has sought out lost and secretive waterways, probing waters 'as deep as England' at dead of night in search of giant pike. The quest, as always, is for more than the living quarry. For only by searching far beneath the surface, Jennings suggests in this most moving and thought-provoking of memoirs, can you connect with your own deep history.

Now available in paperback, a dark and dramatic memoir of an angler's life, shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and William Hill Sports Book of Year. 'Jennings weaves a net to mesh human struggle to the peace of the riverbank.' Guardian

About the Author
Luke Jennings is the author of three novels, including the Booker Prize-longlisted Atlantic. As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as all the British quality papers, and he is currently the dance critic of the Observer. He is married with three children, and lives in North London.

Reviews
'Jennings weaves a net to mesh human struggle to the peace of the riverbank.' Guardian 'Beautifully evokes the landscape and lore of a postwar rural childhood.' Andrew Motion 'A book of personal reflection. Jennings's memoir sparkles like a dark trout stream in sunlight.' The Times 'Fabulous... A story of the sudden choices men face... Hours of wit, beauty and reflection.' Observer 'An exquisitely written memoir... springing from a tradition of memoir writing deeply rooted in the natural world.' Daily Telegraph 'Vivid and touching' Tom Fort, Literary Review 'A strange, original, haunting book, I will never pass a stream or a canal without remembering it.' Lynn Barber


Awards
Short-listed for BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2010 (UK) and WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2010 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781848871335
Author Luke Jennings
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Atlantic Books
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 190g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 130mm * 15mm