Little Rivers: Tales of a Woman Angler

by Margot Page, Anton Stetzko (Illustrator)

Overview

The expanded edition of the ground-breaking memoir Little Rivers: Tales of a Woman Angler remains the premiere literary narrative of a woman in the male-dominated sport of fly fishing. In essays described as "luminous," Little Rivers features the chronicles of Margot Page's evolution from reluctant student to passionate angler to married, angling young mother, to divorced, desk-bound angler.

In this eloquent, acclaimed book, Margot Page continues her strong, evocative presence in the canon of fly-fishing literature. She invites us to her home river, Vermont's marble-banked Battenkill, to Cape Cod saltwater fishing for striped bass, to Montana's big waters, to the wild Alaskan landscape, and, most compellingly, to the passages that run through her life and echo our own.

The new essays include a rare window into the founding years of the national nonprofit Casting for Recovery, of which she is a founding member. 10% of all proceeds from the sale of the new Little Rivers will be donated to Casting for Recovery which provides free retreats in 41 states across the U.S. helping breast cancer survivors through the therapeutic sport of fly fishing.

The author of three nonfiction books, Page is a former contributor to The New York Times and her essays have been anthologized in numerous publications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781944402068
Publisher:	Three Winds Media
Publication date:	09/15/2016
Edition description:	New, Expanded ed.
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Margot Page is the author of Little Rivers: Tales of a Woman Angler, a ground-breaking memoir about her experiences in the male-dominated sport of fly fishing. When she first learned to fly fish in 1984, she was the only woman in sight and had to wear uncomfortable men's waders and boots because women's fishing gear hadn't been invented yet. She also had to endure male anglers' audible comments about the oddity of seeing a woman on the stream.

Struck by being a rare woman in the sport, she began to write essays about her time on and off the water that were eventually published by national periodicals, and she became the first woman towrite forthe New York Times' Outdoors column where she continued to contribute. These essays formed the backbone of Little Rivers: Tales of a Woman Angler, an eloquent, acclaimed chronicle of her evolution from reluctant student to passionate angler to married, angling young mother, notable because Page also writes compellingly about life's universal passages and challenges. Three decades have passed since she first learned to fish, a span of time featuring rapid advancements in fishing gear and attire technology for women anglers as well as periodic national explosions of new generations of women anglers across the country.

Margot'srelationship with fly fishing goes deep. She is the granddaughter of the legendary angling writer Sparse Grey Hackle and was married to popular angling authority Tom Rosenbauer. Her professional history lies inthe book and magazine publishing industry, working with the renowned outdoors publisher Nick Lyons Books and then as editor of the American Museum of Fly Fishing'squarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher. She says, "Fly fishing has a rich heritage, especially in the field of literature, that stretches back over four centuries and I would like for this depth to resonate more with the current generation of anglers. It's too easy to lose sight of all those who went before us and paved our way." Margot is also the author of two other books, Just Horses: Living with Horses in America and The Art of Fly Fishing.

Additionally she is a founding member of Casting for Recovery,the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping breast cancer survivors, now celebrating its 20th anniversary. 10% of all proceeds from Little Rivers will be donated to Casting for Recovery. Working currently asan independent communications specialist, Margotcontinues to write both nonfiction and fiction from her home in Vermont. Her website is waterlightwords.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Preface
Seduction
Circles on the Water
Pas de Deux
A Fishermom's Tale
Home on the Range, Sorta
Water, Light, Words
Mother's Day
The Great Outdoors
Prayer
The Island
Brookie
Education
Casting for Recovery
Alaska
Inside, Looking Out

Editorial Reviews

"This splendid collection of essays, reprinted from periodicals like the New York Times, Rod & Reel, and Trout, is remarkable especially because Page is able to be lyrical while writing matter-of-fact prose. The book's charm is enhanced by [her] personal history." Publishers Weekly

"As lovely, lyrical, and irresistible as a spring creek ... a graceful intertwining of fishing yarns with meditations on the sorrows and pleasures of life." author Jerry Dennis

"One of our most respected angling writers, Margot Page can't write an ungraceful sentence. I'll take this elegant book any day." Fly Rod & Reel Magazine

"The kind of lucidity, wit, and passion that makes writing that endures. Margot Page has the freshest, most original eye fly-fishing literature has been blessed with in years." novelist W.D. Wetherell

"This gorgeously illustrated, tight-knit little collection of essays is a joyous book, full of rich generational dimensions, and informed throughout by the life of water. The essays range widely and are full of wonderful anecdotes." poet John Engels

"Gracious and gracefully written ... notable among angling books ... Page seems to know where to draw the line and when to put the snapshots back in her wallet. At her best, she writes in a well-schooled lyric realism that reminds me of Gretel Ehrlich of The Solace of Open Spaces, one of the finest recent books about the West." Fly Fisherman Magazine

"A unique look at the world of fly fishing and at one woman's place in it." Indianapolis News

"Author Margot Page has written this for every woman who has ever thought about fly fishing. Page's graceful prose in 'Little Rivers' describes the differences between men's and women's approaches to fishing; it also deal with issues in life." Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs

"Here's the unusual fly-fishing book by a woman, one who is, moreover, an angler who knows what she is doing and doesn't have to take second place to any fisherman. Page refreshingly doesn't present the pumped-up prose most male fisher-writers indulge in. Rather, she just tells a few tales about her fishing experiences, producing a book, that is a kinder, gentler read than we normally get from its genre. An enjoyable read that anglers should take the time to get to know." Booklist

"While more and more books seem to reach too far, try too hard, and claim too much, there are a few that are content to be, modestly, what they are and to say to the reader, merely, 'Enjoy.' So many books are physically heavy and intellectually ponderous that you come across something like Little Rivers by Margot Page with relief and delight. It is the kind of book that reminds you of what people mean when they talk about reading for pleasure." American Way Magazine

"Page adds a touch of light poetry to a genre little known for graceful writing." Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

This splendid collection of essays, reprinted from periodicals like the New York Times, Rod & Reel and Trout, is remarkable especially because Page is able to be lyrical while writing matter-of-fact prose. Here, she tells of her family's angling heritage-her grandfather wrote a popular book on the subject-her anomalous position as a woman in a predominantly male sport and her adventures fishing for trout in Vermont and Montana and for striped bass on Cape Cod. She also writes about her family: her anti-fishing mother, who died of cancer just as Page and future husband Tom were getting acquainted, her self-reliant father and, above all, her daughter. The book's charm is enhanced by this personal history. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Here's the unusual fly-fishing book by a woman, one who is, moreover, an angler who knows what she's doing and doesn't have to take second place to any fisher"man". She relates how she went from being a nonangling person to one of those fanatics you find on the streams every day. (Just imagine the tensions in the household when she and husband Tom Rosenbauer, a noted fly fisher in his own right, try to decide who gets to go fishing and who gets to take care of the kid--the husband doesn't win all the time in this situation.) Page refreshingly doesn't present the pumped-up prose most male fisher-writers indulge in. Rather, she just tells a few tales about her fishing experiences, producing a book that, though George has been out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for two years, is a kinder, gentler one than we normally get from its genre. An enjoyable read that anglers should take the time to get to know.

Jon Kartman