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NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS'CHOICE • A young woman searches for the truth about her father—and the secrets of her family—in this “big-hearted debut that absolutely crackles with smarts” (Emma Straub).“A warm and funny debut novel... perceptive, wry, and witty.”—The New York TimesONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugarTwo years out of college, Ellie Adler has a job in journalism, an older lover, and a circle of smart friends. Her beloved father, James, who has children from three marriages, unites the family with his gentle humor and charisma, but Ellie has always believed she is her father's favorite. When he suddenly dies, she finds herself devastated by the unexpected loss. Then, at the reading of his will, she learns that instead of leaving her his prized possession—a baseball that holds emotional resonance for them both—he has left her a seemingly ridiculous, even insulting gift. Worse, he's given the baseball to someone no one in the family has ever heard of. In her grief, Ellie wonders who could have possibly meant more to her father than she did. Setting out to track this person down, she learns startling information about who her father really was and who she herself is becoming. Moving, witty, and unforgettable, The Catch is a story of the gifts we're given over the course of a lifetime, by family, friends, and strangers—the ones we want and the ones that catch us unawares.

'An absolute gem... I was delightfully lost by the river throughout'Paul Whitehouse'Marvellous... The Catch leaves both its writer and its reader wonderfully'lost in water''Robert Macfarlane'Penetrating and poetic, filled with honeyed prose and thoughtful criticism'The TimesA brilliant blend of memoir and biography, The Catch is a stunning meditation on poetry and nature, and a quiet reflection on what it means to be a father and a son._______________It is in the midst of a swirling river, casting a line, that Mark Wormald meets Ted Hughes. He stands where the poet stood, forty years ago, because fishing was Ted Hughes's way of breathing – and because the poet's writing has made Mark understand that it has always been his way of breathing, too.Using Hughes's poetry collection River and his fishing diaries as a guide, Mark returns again and again to the rivers and lakes in Britain and Ireland where the poet fished. At times, he uses Ted's fly patterns; at others his rods. It is an obsession; a fundamental connection to nature; a thrilling wildness; an elemental pursuit. But it is also a release and a consolation, as Mark fishes after the sudden death of his mother and during the slow fading of his father.

'Eagle, a chef and food writer, uses a nine-dish lunch as the occasion to ruminate about cooking, and life'(New York Times Book Review). First, Catch is a cookbook without recipes, an invitation to journey through the digressive mind of a chef at work, and a hymn to a singular nine-dish festive spring lunch. In Eagle's kitchen, open shelves reveal colorful jars of vegetables pickling over the course of months, and a soffritto of onions, celery, and carrots cook slowly under a watchful gaze in a skillet heavy enough to double as a murder weapon. Eagle has both the sharp eye of a food scientist as he tries to identify the seventeen unique steps of boiling water, as well as of that of a roving food historian as he ponders what the spice silphium tasted like to the Romans, who over-ate it to worldwide extinction. He is a tour guide to the world of ingredients, a culinary explorer, and thoughtful commentator on the ways immigration, technology, and fashion has changed the way we eat. He is also a food philosopher, asking the question: at what stage does cooking begin? Is it when we begin to apply heat or acid to ingredients? Is it when we gather and arrange what we will cook—and perhaps start to salivate? Or does it start even earlier, in the wandering late-morning thought,'What should I eat for lunch?'Irreverent and charming, yet also illuminating and brilliantly researched, First, Catch encourages us to slow down and focus on what it means to cook. With this astonishing and beautiful book, Thom Eagle joins the ranks of great food writers like M.F.K. Fisher, Alice Waters, and Samin Nosrat in offering us inspiration to savor, both in and out of the kitchen. Winner of the Fortnum and Mason's Debut Food Book Award Shortlisted for the 2018 Andre Simon Food & Drink Book of the Year BBC Radio 4 Food Programme Best Foodbooks of 2018 Times Best Food Books of 2018 Financial Times Summer Food Books of 2018'A contemplation of cooking and eating, a return to the great tradition of food writing inspired by M.F.K. Fisher's The Gastronomical Me... Eagle writes with a wit and sharpness that can turn a chapter on fermenting pickles into a riff on death and decay while still making it seem like something you would like to put in your mouth.'—Mark Haskell Smith, Los Angeles Times'In two dozen short chapters linked like little sausages, he serves up a bounty of fresh, often tart opinions about food and cooking... Eagle is a natural teacher; his enthusiasm and broad view of food preparation is both instructive and inspiring... Eagle's prose, while conversational in tone, is as crafted and layered as his cuisine. Never bland, it is also brightly seasoned with strong opinions... Rare among food writing, this book is bound to change the way you think about your next meal.'—Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor

The gripping story of a young woman's murder, unsolved for over two decades, brilliantly investigated and reconstructed by her stepsister.Growing up, Rachel Rear knew the story of Stephanie Kupchynsky's disappearance. The beautiful violinist and teacher had fled an abusive relationship on Martha's Vineyard and made a new start for herself near Rochester, NY. She was at the height of her life-in a relationship with a man she hoped to marry and close to her students and her family. And then, one morning, she was gone.Around Rochester-a region which has spawned such serial killers as Arthur Shawcross and the “Double Initial” killer-Stephanie's disappearance was just a familiar sort of news item. But Rachel had more reason than most to be haunted by this particular story of a missing woman: Rachel's mother had married Stephanie's father after the crime, and Rachel grew up in the shadow of her stepsister's legacy.In Catch the Sparrow, Rachel Rear writes a compulsively readable and unerringly poignant reconstruction of the case's dark and serpentine path across more than two decades. Obsessively cataloging the crime and its costs, drawing intimately closer to the details than any journalist could, she reveals how a dysfunctional justice system laid the groundwork for Stephanie's murder and stymied the investigation for more than twenty years, and what those hard years meant for the lives of Stephanie's family and loved ones. Startling, unputdownable, and deeply moving, Catch the Sparrow is a retelling of a crime like no other.

Hook-and-line fishing is commonly used in South African inland fisheries; however, very little quantitative information on catch and effort exists, even though it is essential to advise management of the sector. To provide information towards management of South Africa's largest impoundment, the Gariep Dam, roving creel surveys were conducted to quantify annual fish harvest and to identify changes in fisher catch, effort and harvest data in comparison to historic data. The surveys were also conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic which presented an additional opportunity to describe fishery dynamics during the pandemic. Randomly stratified sampling was conducted from November 2020 to October 2021, in which catch and effort data of hook-and-line fishers were collected. Two fishery user groups were encountered: recreational and subsistence users were present, but the fishery was dominated by subsistence fishers. There was a more skewed dominance between these fisher groups than what was found during similar surveys in 2007/2008. Catch per unit effort was similar to previous estimates, at 0.51 kg·fisher-1·h-1 (95% CI:0.47-0.54). There was, however, a significant reduction in fishing effort during the sampling period when compared to historic data, and estimated annual total harvest was only one third of what was previously reported. It was also noted that recreational fishers avoided fishing during the Covid-19 pandemic, whereas the subsistence fishers could not avoid fishing as it is their primary means of livelihood. The results of the study suggested that subsistence fisheries provide valuable livelihood support to communities, and serve as an example on what impacts a crisis such as a global pandemic may have on inland fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]