Like a Pheasant to Water

Set in the heady days of the nineteen seventies, this is the hilarious sequel to the highly acclaimed Fishing With Harry - a tale of piscatorial mayhem. Harry is a bluff, no-nonsense character of Huguenot extraction, ex-Army and the War Office, with a ribald sense of humour and a cleanliness fetish. He is step-father-in-law to Tony, a reluctant accountant brought up as a young Jewish boy in the Essex countryside. An ill-matched pair, the bedrock of their relationship is a shared obsession for fishing and a love of the great outdoors.

Journeying on the Thames and inland canals in a colourful little cruiser, then on a narrow boat and later in a weird, paddle-driven contraption purchased on a whim, the capacity of this unlikely pair to generate grown-up mischief is taken to new heights, leaving mayhem and mystified onlookers in their wake. Flood alerts, boat crashes, duckings, near-drownings, rotting food, teeth lost overboard plus eccentric characters met along the way, all interspersed with the occasional landing of fish, confirm we are back in the uniquely charming and chaotic world inhabited by Tony and the incorrigible Harry. Welcome aboard!

Tony Baws went to grammar school in Southend. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant, working in London and Essex. He was a voluntary warden of his local National Nature Reserve, which is part of Essex Wildlife Trust. In 2023, he graduated with a Master’s degree (with distinction) in Creative Writing from Teesside University.