On streams from Maine to the Catskills, he skillfully and revealingly connects his fly lines to his life lines: his courtship, his marriage, his daughters, his writing. Nova's memoir is, sadly, short, but the experiences he relates are anything but thin anglers know there is just as much splendor in a game little fish as there is in one that's trophy-size.
Remarkably, each has a way of sustaining the other. Both are uncertain and private pursuits with lots of time for contemplation, punctuated by plenty of setbacks and the occasional victory. This is a gem of a book, by one of America's finest novelists.It's no surprise, really, that a novelist of Craig Nova's range should find himself as drawn to trout as he is to words. Brook Trout and the Writing Life is part autobiography, part fishing literature, all imbued with a sense of the delight and mystery in moving water and wild brookies. And while the book explores the best of the author's fishing experiences in all their delicious detail, as well as his giving thanks, it also looks into the darker moments - as when Nova found himself wearing a bullet-proof vest provided by the F.B.I. His life intertwines with his love of clear brooks and the jewellike brook trout. But, as Nova fishes for them in Maine, New York, and Vermont, they become a graceful embodiment of the important moments in his life - falling in love, having children, making friends, writing novels. The brookie is a constant, something that mitigates against the passage of time, defending against events we would like to forget. From the first brook trout the author catches to the most recent, this book is a paean to the beauty of the fish and an emblem of the good things in life.
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