BOOK REVIEW – THE MORTON SMUGGLER

I hardly never review books, but just recently I read one called 'The Morton Smuggler' which has caused me to make an exception. It’s a fictional story about a fly reel that is impossible to buy and instead, must be earned. The best fly reel in the world.

The book starts with a young Scot named Rupert at a very strict boarding school in Bombay in India, where he is caned frequently. A fanatical angler, Rupert writes letters to the Morton Smuggler who makes the fly reels of the same name, about his yearning to obtain one. Without divulging too much, our very young Rupert ends up under a guardianship in the Portuguese colony of Goa on the west coast of India.

Then it’s home to Scotland where he spends the holidays with his grandfather who runs a pub in Aberdeenshire, near the Dee. Rupert is then sent out to Timbertop, the mountain school of Geelong Grammar near Mansfield, and then on to the main campus at Corio just outside of Geelong. He develops a best friend called Finn and encounters the famous Fred Fry on the Howqua River. In between, Rupert spends his holidays near Taggerty in north-east Victoria. (The reviewer here recalls two fanatical flyfishing brothers called Finn and Rupert who were killed in a horrific car accident whilst returning from Alaska to fly home to their farm just outside Geelong after a steelhead fishing trip some twenty years ago. However, any similarity with our Rupert in the story ends there – except to say they were both ‘loners and fanatical fishers’ and both went to the same school.)

All the while, Rupert keeps writing letters to the Morton Smuggler, learning that he must understand a series of ‘F’s to obtain one. On turning 18, he leaves Grammar under a cloud and is distressed that he will no longer see his girlfriend at the school. He ends up in Western Australia’s Kimberly, getting a frustratingly hard time from a unionised workforce there.

Finally, Rupert travels to the Algiers in north Africa to meet his father, and to learn about the war years where his grandfather had been a Spitfire pilot and had lost his best friend. At the very last, there’s a return to Scotland and a conclusion, which won’t be divulged here. However, it is very important to re-read the Introduction, and the Epilogue at the end.

 A softcover book, the reviewer could not put it down. It is likely to leave quite an impression, and any flyfisher with an instinct to sometimes be alone, will enjoy the read.

Available both digitally and in paperback format from Amazon and themortonsmuggler.com