Lines On The Water
Book Review – Forgotten Fen by Gareth Craddock
In my view, the real test of a fishing book is “does it make you want to go fishing”. In the case of Forgotten Fen by Gareth Craddock, the answer is a very positive “yes”.
Gareth is a schoolteacher an angler and a countryman and in this new book from the Medlar Press he takes the reader on a year long journey through the forgotten, brooding fens of Kent. For the most part he has a rod with him and catches tench, perch and pike not to mention a tussle with a huge eel, for once though, it’s not the fish that are the star of the show, it’s the land itself and the water it holds.
The author’s explorations take him to a wild hinterland, mostly untrod by anglers or any other humans for that matter. He hacks through brambles, builds fishing nests amongst the huge stands of nettles and at times finds himself held hostage by mists, fogs and a jungle of deadly nightshade. He vividly describes the detail of the crystal-clear waters, the fish that live in them and the birds that fly above them, but more importantly he captures the atmosphere, the ghosts, the spirit of the place and its rare human characters. There is darkness and light here. Often, as a reader, you wish you were in these wild places yourself, chasing the huge perch, enormous wild tench, leviathan eels, but at other times you are quite pleased to be sat at home reading about the dark freezing mists, the ghost infested drains and the aggressive bulls with a taste for blood. Sometimes the Fens are an untouched angler’s paradise, sometimes a netherworld of owls, toads and the spirits of the past.
Throughout the book is illustrated by beautiful, evocative linocuts by John Richardson (not the one from 8 of of 10 cats plays countdown I assume!) which are the perfect way to enhance the story and only serve to bolster the readers vivid mental image of the landscape that emerges from every page.
Beautifully bound and presented and priced at £25 this is a book to buy for yourself or give as a gift. I suspect there will be more than one captivated reader reaching for old OS map of Kent and planning a trip to a place that feels like it’s trapped in the past.
By John Cheyne
Available online from The Medlar Press
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