My Fishing Life, Ashley Mullenger
My Fishing Life, Ashley Mullenger
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

My Fishing Life
A Story of the Sea

Author: Ashley Mullenger

Narrator: Ashley Mullenger

Unabridged: 7 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/02/2024


Synopsis

'A beautiful, heartfelt love letter to the sea, and a cherished industry. Ash is a force of nature, she's a testament to working hard and dreaming big' Dermot O'Leary

'A beautifully told story ... of a hard industry and the trials and tribulations of the hard folks in it, as well as highlighting their everyday triumphs and disasters with humour and aplomb' Daily Express

Ashley Mullenger had never planned to become a fisherman. A chance fishing trip - catching mackerel off the Norfolk coast - was the start of an obsession. One that resulted in a transformation from clean-cut office worker to commercial 'Fisherman of the Year', and proud working owner of two boats, Fairlass and Saoirse, alongside skipper Nigel.

This is a memoir of that journey, a life swept up in tides and elements, strength of mind and body, of old ways and new struggles. It's about the bravery of crews, early mornings, weather-beaten characters and those that can sink pints as fast as they can haul pots. These coastal communities and age-old livelihoods are built on trust, courage and skill - but they are also fraying against politics, poverty and climate change. The reality of commercial fishing is rarely seen, but Ashley carries us across the waves and around the UK's waters in vivid detail to show what is really happening at sea to land the fish on our plates.

My Fishing Life is both a rallying cry and a love letter, rinsed down with salty humour, to an industry often misunderstood. One woman's unique story of boat, skipper, sea and catch ultimately becomes a transformative view of a world that impacts deeply on us all.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bruce on August 19, 2024

In the early 2000s, office worker Ashley and a group of colleagues decide to go on a chartered sea fishing trip from Wells-next-the-sea in north Norfolk – a three and a half hour trip catching mackerel with skipper Nigel and his oldest son Kenneth. But, whereas her friends viewed this trip as a mere......more

Goodreads review by Rae on August 13, 2024

If you know absolutely nothing about the British fishing industry, you're in for a treat. Don't let the title, or the subject matter, put you off. Ashley is hilarious in her delivery (to the point that I was reading parts of this book down the phone to friends while crying with laughter) and is, obv......more

Goodreads review by Aatqa on June 13, 2024

I love it when audiobooks are narrated by their authors- you can tell just by the way it is read that Ashley means every word she says. The book hits the perfect balance between telling a story and providing information about the British fishing industry. It seems every single profession is being sl......more

Goodreads review by Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer on October 29, 2024

Bought on a visit to my favorite independent bookshop – Holt Bookshop. This was both an entertaining and informative tale of fishing – by one of the relatively few female fisherman in the UK. The two boats on which the author fishes and has, I think, part ownership are both based in the port of Well......more

Goodreads review by Claire on January 24, 2025

Some really interesting parts in the book but the talk about the ships maintenance and how to look after a ships engine as well as talking about each pot and how to catch the whelks was a borefest. I was more interested in her personal story why she became a fishman the parts about her being female......more