The Healing Stream

One of the most candid and eloquent fishing memoirs ever written. This is Laurence's unusual fishing autobiography in which he talks openly about how, as a young man, his excessive drinking brought him to an important turning point in his fishing life. This is elegantly interwoven around his lively views on the northern upstream tradition, catch-and-release, worming and other topics. In the second part of the book, Laurence embarks on what he expects to be an idyllic time as he takes early retirement and looks forward to even more shooting and fishing - when a personal crisis plunges him into a nervous breakdown. This frank exploration of how fishing became impossible to contemplate during the darkest days but how it went on to form an essential part of eventual recovery, is a new departure in angling literature and will strike a chord with many readers. This is a surprisingly funny, honest and moving memoir which pushes back the boundaries of eloquent fishing literature.

Laurence Catlow is considered one of the finest and most thoughtful writers on flyfishing today. He has a doctorate in Classics from Cambridge University and was Head of Classics at Sedbergh School. He lives in Brough, Cumbria, and fishes mainly in that county and in Yorkshire, although his pursuit of trout also takes him further afield, to Scotland, Wales, Shropshire and Hampshire. His other interests include shooting and beating, walking his dogs, wine, religion and classical music. Laurence Catlow writes about shooting and fishing for the sporting press.  He is author of  Confessions of a Shooting, Fishing Man, Once a Flyfisher, Private Thoughts from a Small Shoot and That Strange Alchemy.  all published by Merlin Unwin Books.