What do you think?
Rate this book
Blood Knots: Of Fathers, Friendship and Fishing
As a child in the 1960s, Luke Jennings was fascinated by the rivers and lakes around his Sussex home. Beneath their surfaces, it seemed to him, waited alien and mysterious worlds. With library books as his guide, he applied himself to the task of learning to fish. His progress was slow, and for years he caught nothing. But then a series of teachers presented themselves, including an inspirational young intelligence officer, from whom he learnt stealth, deception, and the art of the dry fly. So began an enlightening but often dark-shadowed journey of discovery. It would lead to bright streams and wild country, but would end with his mentor's capture, torture, and execution by the IRA. Blood Knots is about angling, about great fish caught and lost, but it is also about friendship, honor, and coming of age. As an adult Jennings has sought out lost and secretive waterways, probing waters "as deep as England" at dead of night in search of giant pike. The quest, as always, is for more than the living quarry. For only by searching far beneath the surface, Jennings suggests in this most moving and thought-provoking of memoirs, can you connect with your own deep history.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
38 people are currently reading
425 people want to read
About the author
Luke Jennings
27 books657 followersLuke Jennings is an author and the dance critic of The Observer. He trained at the Rambert School and was a dancer for ten years before turning to writing.
As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as for numerous British titles. He is the author of Blood Knots, a memoir, short-listed for the 2010 Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of three novels: Breach Candy, Beauty Story, and the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. With Deborah Bull, he wrote The Faber Guide to Ballet, and with his daughter Laura, the Stars fiction series for Puffin Books, about teenagers at a stage-school.
He is currently writing a follow-up to his 2017 thriller Codename Villanelle (John Murray). The Villanelle titles are the basis for BBC America's upcoming TV series Killing Eve, airing in 2018 and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as for numerous British titles. He is the author of Blood Knots, a memoir, short-listed for the 2010 Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of three novels: Breach Candy, Beauty Story, and the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. With Deborah Bull, he wrote The Faber Guide to Ballet, and with his daughter Laura, the Stars fiction series for Puffin Books, about teenagers at a stage-school.
He is currently writing a follow-up to his 2017 thriller Codename Villanelle (John Murray). The Villanelle titles are the basis for BBC America's upcoming TV series Killing Eve, airing in 2018 and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 18, 2012
Sometimes a book just falls in your lap and your whole world is brighter, better and - something else beginning with a 'b' that I can't quite think of right now. My past few days have been spent reading Blood Knots by Luke Jennings, a memoir that is predominantly about fishing. Now, I hate memoirs - well, I don't hate them, but I tend not to read them - and I'm not a fan of fishing, thinking it a brainlessly cruel 'sport'. But from the get-go, Luke Jennings' writing is so captivating and involving, setting the scene in the mysterious world of London's hidden waterways, that he had me hooked before I knew it. He reeled me in with the back story of his father's experience as a tank commander in World War 2 and he combined this with a young boy's wonder at the world beneath the surface of water.
It soon became clear to me that Luke Jennings' life experience was quite different to my own - prep school, south of England, summer holiday homes in the country - and, being the inverse snob that I am, I might have dismissed the book on that account. This danger increased as it became obvious that one of the young Luke's mentors was Robert Nairac, who would later become the British undercover agent in Northern Ireland who was executed for his troubles. Tales of public school, Oxford, wealth and privilege are so alien to me (there's that Harry Potter thing where Luke travels up north on the train to school and the sky darkens - what cock!) but again, the writing is so good that my own personal tastes were rendered irrelevant. Luke is in thrall to the easy charm of Nairac and is grateful for the attention. Everything is relative and how I feel about Luke is how Luke feels about the better-off aristocrats he encounters at school. In fact, the school he attends - Ampleforth College - forms a direct connection to my own life and it was in the woods surrounding the school that I set one of the very first scenes in my my first novel.
But it is the fishing that holds this memoir together. The technical detail, the descriptive passages of stealth, the wiles of the feeding trout, the viciousness of monster pikes and the mind-numbing boredom and disappointment of most fishing expeditions - all are prefectly captured in a way that you'll never be able to just pass by a body of water without wondering what lies beneath.
The Fever Pitch of fishing; it's that good.
May 10, 2018
Readers only familiar with Luke Jennings from his thriller, CODENAME VILLANELLE, will find BLOOD KNOTS quite a change of pace. His title comes from a clever combination of references both to family ties and a way to prepare fishing tackle.
Jennings recounts how a father who bore scars from pulling fellow soldiers away from a burning tank in World War II and the free-spirited, falcon-owning Robert Nairac, who valued the precision of dry-fly casting, inspired him to push beyond the ordinary to reach the personal joy of achieving expertise.
Even before meeting Kairac, Jennings credits books by Bernard Venables, Richard Walker, Peter Stone, and Fred Taylor, borrowed from a local library, for introducing him to what became his love of fishing. BLOOD KNOTS taught me fishing hooks come in different sizes, a #18 is smaller than a #12. I also learned dry-fly casting for trout begins with making a fly using a delicate bit of silk and feather and requires, like kite flying, an open space where swinging a fishing line overhead and forward will not tangle it in an overhanging branch. No wonder, trout anglers don hip boots and wade into rivers.
In this age of quick, unedited emails, BLOOD KNOTS rekindles an appreciation of erudite authors. If nothing else, reading BLOOD KNOTS can improve the chance of winning Scrabble by sending readers to a giant dictionary to expand their vocabulary with words such as those Jennings uses: numinous, pellucid, ilex, ferrules, elegiac, jejune, and jinking. Readers also might be inspired to observe and describe their experiences the way Jennings does in the following sentence: "Pigeons flew over us, cresting the roadside trees with a single wing-snap and gliding to their roosts."
Especially look for what Jennings has to say about time as a fusion of past, present, and future.
Jennings recounts how a father who bore scars from pulling fellow soldiers away from a burning tank in World War II and the free-spirited, falcon-owning Robert Nairac, who valued the precision of dry-fly casting, inspired him to push beyond the ordinary to reach the personal joy of achieving expertise.
Even before meeting Kairac, Jennings credits books by Bernard Venables, Richard Walker, Peter Stone, and Fred Taylor, borrowed from a local library, for introducing him to what became his love of fishing. BLOOD KNOTS taught me fishing hooks come in different sizes, a #18 is smaller than a #12. I also learned dry-fly casting for trout begins with making a fly using a delicate bit of silk and feather and requires, like kite flying, an open space where swinging a fishing line overhead and forward will not tangle it in an overhanging branch. No wonder, trout anglers don hip boots and wade into rivers.
In this age of quick, unedited emails, BLOOD KNOTS rekindles an appreciation of erudite authors. If nothing else, reading BLOOD KNOTS can improve the chance of winning Scrabble by sending readers to a giant dictionary to expand their vocabulary with words such as those Jennings uses: numinous, pellucid, ilex, ferrules, elegiac, jejune, and jinking. Readers also might be inspired to observe and describe their experiences the way Jennings does in the following sentence: "Pigeons flew over us, cresting the roadside trees with a single wing-snap and gliding to their roosts."
Especially look for what Jennings has to say about time as a fusion of past, present, and future.
August 21, 2025
I first heard about this in the Slightly Foxed quarterly magazine. As a fan of nature writing, if not so much of fishing, I decided to give this memoir a try and ordered the elegant Slightly Foxed hardback edition.
It certainly didn’t disappoint. Beautifully written, with a strong sense of the numinous, the sublime aspects of time spent purposefully in the English countryside, I flew through this book. There are so many passages that beg a second read, seeming to hit on something that a lesser writer would struggle to articulate. As I say, I’m no fisherman, but I can only appreciate writing of this quality:
‘Chalk-stream fishing is Arcadian. A private masque, enacted in a dream-world. Everything about it is unreal; everything about it goes against the grain of the age. It's intensely seductive, like all lost-England fantasies, holding something narcotic in its allure. To immerse yourself too often and too deeply is to lose yourself. Real life lies elsewhere’
It certainly didn’t disappoint. Beautifully written, with a strong sense of the numinous, the sublime aspects of time spent purposefully in the English countryside, I flew through this book. There are so many passages that beg a second read, seeming to hit on something that a lesser writer would struggle to articulate. As I say, I’m no fisherman, but I can only appreciate writing of this quality:
‘Chalk-stream fishing is Arcadian. A private masque, enacted in a dream-world. Everything about it is unreal; everything about it goes against the grain of the age. It's intensely seductive, like all lost-England fantasies, holding something narcotic in its allure. To immerse yourself too often and too deeply is to lose yourself. Real life lies elsewhere’
April 30, 2025
I loved this book. When I asked the very capable team at Daunt’s in Marylebone what books have a bit of history and are just beautifully written, one of the suggestions was “Blood Knots.” Do not let the fishing detail deter you; I am not an avid fisherman but now want to be one. So far, top read of the year. Well done, Mr. Jennings.
June 22, 2023
“Fishing has its disappointments, its frustrations and its blank days, none of which lessen with the passing of the years. There are times when you feel yourself an alien figure in the landscape. Days when, for all your effort and calculation, you just can't read the water. And then there are the times when it all comes right. When the theory falls away, and you and the place are one. Those moments represent a sum of practical experience, although they are also the gift of those who taught you. I understand now why Robert was absolutist in his method, and why he spoke of honour and the dry fly in the same sentence. Because the rules we impose on ourselves are everything – especially in the face of nature, which, for all its outward poetry, is a slaughterhouse. It's not a question of wilfully making things harder, but of a purity of approach without which success has no meaning. And this, ultimately, was his lesson: that the fiercest joy is to be a spectator of your own conduct and find no cause for complaint.”
July 27, 2025
This book has a lot in common with 'A River Runs Through It': both are memoirs in which familial relationships (and in the case of 'Blood Knots' a childhood friendship) are sketched out to the backdrop of fishing and in particular, fly fishing. The author's descriptions of his fishing experiences evoke a wonderful sense of time and place, but the unexpected digressions from that subject are what make this more than simply a book about fishing. Albeit, if it were just about fishing, it would still be a very enjoyable read.
September 27, 2020
A haunting and beautiful book which I often return to. My interest in the story was first sparked by the references to fly fishing but there is so much more to the book than this. The author's friendship with Robert Nairac, conversations with his father, little known facts about people like the Garman sisters, Laurie Lee and the rock start Rene Berg, life at Ampleforth boarding school... the book contains so many gems. All in all, a wonderful read!
November 4, 2018
Literacy Combined with Great Flyfishing Facts & Stories!
Flyfishing in England is different, historical and combined with that British sense of duty & humor. This is a super example of precisely that combination. I feel inspired to get out with my rod and fly box o fe again!
Flyfishing in England is different, historical and combined with that British sense of duty & humor. This is a super example of precisely that combination. I feel inspired to get out with my rod and fly box o fe again!
July 16, 2023
An excellent, slim volume, best read in its beautiful Slightly Foxed edition, of fishing tales and stories of youth and adulthood reaching back to the memories of youth. I love books about fishing. This is one of the best.
April 13, 2024
I listened on audible. It’s part fishing memoir, part spy thriller. I was a bit distracted. Parts were really idyllic - stream fishing and boarding school culture. It’s hard to describe fishing - it’s something best appreciated by doing.
August 2, 2017
About fishing, and much more. A real treat.
December 24, 2018
Great
I dont like fishing in any aspect but i really enjoyed this book and could feel myself on the river bank. Thanks
I dont like fishing in any aspect but i really enjoyed this book and could feel myself on the river bank. Thanks
January 3, 2022
Original new angles on angling.
January 14, 2024
Great read. Several touch points to my life. Rekindled interest in fishing too
May 3, 2024
Very very good very very funny very very sad
November 18, 2024
A wonderful gem of a book.
September 22, 2025
Found in a phone box, I’ve got not interest in fishing but I can empathise with the passion. Real depth and well written. Probably a 9 bit will give him a 5/5!
October 12, 2010
Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2010, Nonfiction
Of Fathers, Friendship & Fishing
Luke Jennings memoir starts out as peaceful recollection of his early childhood and his drive to learn to fish. He recounts his upbringing, his fascination with the natural world, and his early fears while in the theme of angling across England. He speaks fondly of his father, as well as a country hand named Tom who helped him learn the intricacies, indeed, the art of fishing. Patience and observation are skills he learns that serve him for a lifetime.
What is the appeal of fishing? “On the surface, the answer appears simple: to catch a fish. You want to deceive a wild creature, take it from its element, marvel over it and return it to the wild. But that’s only part of it – what you call the ego element. The living, wriggling proof of your skill and cunning. Proof that, in the right circumstances, you can get one over the natural world.” It’s partly the hunt but also the mystery that draws him, “What I can’t explain is that…it’s the revelation – the opening and closing of the shutter on an alien world. The tall, mysterious chamber of green, speared with light but vanishing into darkness.”
As his life progresses, naturally it becomes more complicated. He forms friendships and looks to his future with a range of emotions. His British life is continually touched by historical and political events both past and present, and he finds his way trying to balance that knowledge and still maintain the childhood mystery. He always returns back to the pond or river to restore his outlook. He soon becomes acquainted with a larger-than-life figure, Robert Nairac, who influences his life as a friend and mentor, teaching him history while at the same time teaching him falconry. This influence can’t be minimized, and no doubt the violence that ends Nairac’s life is both shocking and somehow expected.
Throughout, however, the return to nature is much as Wordsworth describes-a function to restore peace. The book itself is peaceful, quiet almost, and the descriptions of landscape and people are detailed and revealing. The overall feel is just as soothing as a river, even when tragedy occurs. The author also is clearly devoted to fishing: he drops names of famous books and fishermen in British culture that may well be familiar to readers there. His description of fishing is not a hobby, but a lifestyle. Conquering the wild indicates more than a subtle hint about his personality.
While I enjoyed it overall, a few times the quiet pace felt a bit numbing. It seemed repetitive in some of the descriptions of the ‘hunt’. The other thing, strictly a personal issue, is that I simply cannot comprehend ‘catch and release’ fishing. It is supposed to be more humane, but seems barbaric to me. If someone wants to fish to provide food, fine. But to hook a fish, possibly damaging its mouth and scaring it to death in the process, just to throw it back, seems kind of sadistic. I realize it’s the thrill of the hunt that Jennings explains, but I still don’t understand. I realize some hooks are not barbed, but still, it yanks on their body and they fight against it, perhaps damaging their gills or other fish parts, for what? Lastly, since it is a true story, I thought photographs of some of the locations and people might have been helpful.
Of Fathers, Friendship & Fishing
Luke Jennings memoir starts out as peaceful recollection of his early childhood and his drive to learn to fish. He recounts his upbringing, his fascination with the natural world, and his early fears while in the theme of angling across England. He speaks fondly of his father, as well as a country hand named Tom who helped him learn the intricacies, indeed, the art of fishing. Patience and observation are skills he learns that serve him for a lifetime.
What is the appeal of fishing? “On the surface, the answer appears simple: to catch a fish. You want to deceive a wild creature, take it from its element, marvel over it and return it to the wild. But that’s only part of it – what you call the ego element. The living, wriggling proof of your skill and cunning. Proof that, in the right circumstances, you can get one over the natural world.” It’s partly the hunt but also the mystery that draws him, “What I can’t explain is that…it’s the revelation – the opening and closing of the shutter on an alien world. The tall, mysterious chamber of green, speared with light but vanishing into darkness.”
As his life progresses, naturally it becomes more complicated. He forms friendships and looks to his future with a range of emotions. His British life is continually touched by historical and political events both past and present, and he finds his way trying to balance that knowledge and still maintain the childhood mystery. He always returns back to the pond or river to restore his outlook. He soon becomes acquainted with a larger-than-life figure, Robert Nairac, who influences his life as a friend and mentor, teaching him history while at the same time teaching him falconry. This influence can’t be minimized, and no doubt the violence that ends Nairac’s life is both shocking and somehow expected.
Throughout, however, the return to nature is much as Wordsworth describes-a function to restore peace. The book itself is peaceful, quiet almost, and the descriptions of landscape and people are detailed and revealing. The overall feel is just as soothing as a river, even when tragedy occurs. The author also is clearly devoted to fishing: he drops names of famous books and fishermen in British culture that may well be familiar to readers there. His description of fishing is not a hobby, but a lifestyle. Conquering the wild indicates more than a subtle hint about his personality.
While I enjoyed it overall, a few times the quiet pace felt a bit numbing. It seemed repetitive in some of the descriptions of the ‘hunt’. The other thing, strictly a personal issue, is that I simply cannot comprehend ‘catch and release’ fishing. It is supposed to be more humane, but seems barbaric to me. If someone wants to fish to provide food, fine. But to hook a fish, possibly damaging its mouth and scaring it to death in the process, just to throw it back, seems kind of sadistic. I realize it’s the thrill of the hunt that Jennings explains, but I still don’t understand. I realize some hooks are not barbed, but still, it yanks on their body and they fight against it, perhaps damaging their gills or other fish parts, for what? Lastly, since it is a true story, I thought photographs of some of the locations and people might have been helpful.
February 23, 2014
A coming-of-age story in 1960s England, Luke Jennings tells of his obsession for fishing. As a young lad, he is drawn to canals, rivers, ponds, and lakes; anyplace that possibly might have fish. His father does not fish, but early on helps his son pursue this interest. Luke attends boarding school and there makes contact with other fishing friends and mentors. It's not just a story about fishing; it's a subtle tale about relationships and growing up. Recommended! (lj)
April 14, 2016
A somewhat odd book that I only read as a friend had lent it to me, although I am not sure why they did. I thought a book about fishing would be quite dull, and indeed some of the fishing descriptions were, although others were quite poetic. The author's stories about people in his life were quite interesting.
August 30, 2016
A lyrical tale of growing up - with the art of fishing as the interwoven theme.
Instantly engaging and encouraging many memories from my own childhood, this is an absolute delight of a book.
Well written and a great tale, whether or not you have any interest in fishing - such is his style.
A treasure trove of a story.
Instantly engaging and encouraging many memories from my own childhood, this is an absolute delight of a book.
Well written and a great tale, whether or not you have any interest in fishing - such is his style.
A treasure trove of a story.
January 13, 2011
A lovely book which draws you in. The fishing theme takes you back into your own childhood and lets you join with Luke in his experiences. Tinged with sadness knowing the outcome but at the same time a comforting tale.
March 6, 2014
Author Luke Jennings writes about a lifetime of fantastic fishing and fishing mentors.
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2014
Great book. About fishing, about friendship, about growing up. About stuff. This guy can write; I'm going to look for his novels.
November 1, 2021
Good fishing stories tied in with father and friend remembrance. A little bit coming of age in the England public school world.
Read
July 21, 2023Gorgeous writing. I don't fish, and yet I love this tender book, with all its moments of tragedy and humor.
February 5, 2013
I really enjoyed this story of fishing in England with side glimpses of the war, boarding schools and the countryside.
Read
March 18, 2016A great book.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews