Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi

By David Adams Richards

In Lines on the Water, David Adams Richards writes eloquently and movingly about his life on the shores of one of the world's great fishing rivers. With the same insight and emotion that have won him praise for his fiction, Richards brings to life a community centred on fly-fishing -- a sport that has become, for many, a way of life. Weaving together tales of the guides and poachers, the "sports" and the city slickers, Richards pays tribute to all who have shared in the joy of fishing the Miramichi.

This is a book about our relationship with nature, about hunters and fishermen, friendship and family, history and memory. Lines on the Water teems with lore and wisdom, humour, and most of all, passion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307363824

David Adams Richards

David Adams Richards is a resident of Fredericton and is one of only three Canadian writers who have won Governor General's Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction. His novel Mercy Among the Children won the 2000 Giller Prize, while his most recent novel, Incidents in the Life of Marcus Paul, won the 2012 Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award.

Reviews for Lines on the Water

[patl_53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful, languid prose, and yet far from stereotypical fartsy crap one too often finds in this subject. I will read more from this author.

[ten_floors_up · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up as a sale/discard item from my local library and it just sat in a pile of similar items until I picked it up a few days ago. I wish I'd taken the trouble to read it before now. The author's stamping-ground is thousand of miles away from mine, and many of his fishing methods and experiences are also many miles away from my own, metaphorically speaking. However, it certainly struck a chord once I gave it my attention. As a previous reviewer has said, it also has potential to appeal to a more general reader.The more philosophically-minded angler will probably find parallels with their own experiences, thoughts and motivations, while the general reader may gain some insight into an angler's mindset, and how it can evolve.A brief footnote: according to the circulation-sheet inside the book, this copy was loaned just three times during a shelf-life of seven years. Why did I choose to pass it by when it was on the shelves I was scanning regularly?