Salmon Fishing in the Yemen cover art

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

The book that became a major film starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free + £10 Audible voucher

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

By: Paul Torday
Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar, John Sessions, Samantha Bond
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £17.94

Buy Now for £17.94

An extraordinary, beguiling bestselling tale of fly-fishing and political spinning, of unexpected heroism and late-blooming love...

This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist - for whom diary-notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' - who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen - a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history for ever.

With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters - including a visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred's devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon - SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

(p) 2007 Orion Publishing Group©2007 Paul Torday Contemporary Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Witty Heartfelt Comedy Middle East Iran
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

I really loved this book (Bill Nighy)
Paul Torday's debut novel is about an impossibility...And the remarkable thing is that a book about so deeply serious a matter can make you laugh, all the way to a last twist that's as sudden and shocking as a barbed hook...As with all good comedy, there's a tragic underside...And there is satire...To write a novel lampooning the looking-glass world of Blairite government must have given Torday as much gruesome fun as he gives his readers...Salmon Fishing is extraordinary indeed, and a triumph.
It's hilarious and so well observed (Sir Christopher Meyer)
Entertaining storytelling with great characters and laugh-out-loud plot
A wonderful book - a cry for humanity in our target-driven spin-riddled world (Marina Lewycka)
A most diverting debut - ingenious, witty and moving, Yes Minister meets Monarch of the Glen (David Profumo)
It is light, but succeeds in an ambitious project: making a book about fishing readable, even touching. Fish may not be your bag, but it is the capacity for commitment and belief that makes for good reading
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is an entertaining and successful debut...it is warmly recommended to anyone searching for feelgood comedy with surprising bite
A wickedly comic first novel about the power of money and the miracle of faith
This is a wonderful, enjoyable read...Written in a highly accessible pastiche of memos, letters, interview excerpts, journal entries and emails, Fishing, encompasses everything from the science of salmon spawning to the war in Iraq. But all these elements merely give structure to the story: a lovely musing on how risking it all - however much it may be perceived as foolish or ridiculous, can bring hope and faith and love to the most bleak of outlooks
A clever, original and funny novel...A magical debut
At last an Evelyn Waugh for the 21st century. Paul Torday is funny, humane, poignant and one of the most original writers in the UK today. SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN reinvigorated my already abiding love of contemporary fiction and I am grateful to Mr Torday for it. I urge each and every one of you to buy this book and then sit on the nearest seat to the till and read it (Paul Blezard - Oneword Radio)
An amusing satire on the tensions between the West and the Middle East, and a commentary on the value of belief to mankind...The success of the book lies in the charm of Mr Torday's storyline - his love of salmon fishing shines through his text - and his skill at portraying the petty officialdom and manipulativeness of modern government. Adding breadth is a sharply drawn cast of characters
A tender hearted book...thoroughly enjoyable
A delightfully funny debut...It's funny, ambitious, multi-layered and quirkily imaginative, yet still - especially in the case of a sub-plot featuring a deniable British raid inside Iran - frighteningly relevant
All stars
Most relevant
What an absolutely superb book! Thoroughly entertaining right from the very start. You get so involved with the characters that you are simply willing the salmon project on, right to the very end. With extracts from letters from everyone including, government and terrorists it builds to an ending where you just die to know what happens.

Superb!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm not really a novel person, or a satire person, but Torday manages to keep the thing going, just this side of fantasy. I'm never sure with satire whether we are meant to be laughing at everything, as that gives you the strange feeling of falling off a flat world - if you ridicule everything, you eventually lose your footing. The Sheik is a subject of ridicule isn't he? I mean he can't possibly be meant as a hero??? Peter Mandelson/Maxwell is beyond satire - in fact my impression is that parts of this are lifted direct from PM's autobiography 'The Third Man'.

Not bad for a quick humorous interlude

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The main character was engaging enough to keep me listening to the end. The story was entertaining with a hint of "Yes Minister" about it.

Gentle and entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I wish that I had listened to this book prior to watching the film because images from the film came into my mind instead of using my own imagination. I did enjoy listening to the book and I loved the way that the narrators really got into the characters heads and portrayed them so well.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What made the experience of listening to Salmon Fishing in the Yemen the most enjoyable?

Easy enough story to listen to, not too taxing

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Already been done

Any additional comments?

Ok for sitting around a pool on holidays when you don't want anything too taxing on the mind

Enjoyed the film the book was disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews