**Named One of the New York Post' s Best New Books to Read ** FIRE IN THE STRAW is the witty and deeply felt memoir of Nick Lyons, a man with an intrepid desire to reinvent himself—which he does, over and over.      Nick Lyons shape shifts from reluctant student and graduate of the Wharton School, to English Professor, to husband of a fiercely committed painter, to ghost writer, to famous fly fisherman and award-winning author, to father and then grandfather, to Executive Editor at a large book publishing company, and finally to founder and publisher of his own successful independent press..   Written with the same warm and earthy voice that has enthralled tens of thousands of fly-fishing readers, Nick weaves the disparate chapters of his life: from the moment his widowed mother drops him off at a grim boarding school at the age of five, where he spends three lonely and confusing years; to his love of basketball and pride playing for Penn; to the tumultuous period, in the army and after, when he found and was transformed by literature; to his marriage to Mari, his great love and anchor of his life.   Suddenly, with a PhD in hand and four children, Nick embarks on a complex and thrilling ride, juggling family, fishing, teaching, writing, and publishing, the wolf always at his door. Against all odds, The Lyons Press survives, his children prosper, his wife’s art flourishes, and his books and articles make him a household name.   Fire in the Straw is a love story, a confessional, and a beautiful big-hearted memoir. In Praise of Fire in the Straw:   "[Nick Lyons's] engaging version of his own Horatio Alger story....A moving account of a life of loves and accomplishment." –– Kirkus Reviews “The title of Fire in the Straw  describes the spark that ignites a life of engagement. 'The old fire I found in me, that sustained me, is banked low,' he writes, 'but the orange coals are bright.' This brief but affecting memoir is proof enough of that." –– Wall Street Journal "Anyone who reads  Fire in the Straw  will come away enriched, enchanted by a style that is at once pithy and persuasive and enlightened. Along the way they will have been entertained and driven to the inescapable realization that this work is  a masterpiece of its genre."––Jim Casada, Sporting Classics "A delightful memoir."  –– New York Post “This gem of a book is destined to become a classic. With flawless style, Nick Lyons braids together the two archetypal passions that run like golden threads through his complicated life––love and fishing. First place goes to his late wife, the remarkably gifted painter Mari Lyons.  Their four-decade romance played out on the rough-and-tumble stage of Manhattan intellectual life. Earlier, we see how the author's Dickensian childhood in Brooklyn led him to Catskill streams and eventual renown as the master voice in American fly fishing literature. Fire in the Straw deserves an honored place on the short list of definitive New York memoirs.”–– Howell Raines, former Executive Editor of The New York Times and author of Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis   “If a book can be life altering, and they sure can be, then this is one of them.  There is no mystery why  Fire in the Straw  is this way, since it is charming, moving, filled with stories, with looks at how things really are in the world, told with a voice I absolutely trust and admire. The item, above everything else, that a book like this provides is inspiration. What a life Nick Lyons has had, fisherman, publisher, father, and loving husband to his wife, and all of it told with a lovely humility, with humor, and with that rare sense of what really matters.” ––Craig Nova, author of The Good Son “Nick Lyons has spent so many decades nurturing talent in others that it’s easy to overlook the enormous talent he brings to his own writing. His latest book, Fire in the Straw , is the compelling testament of a great editor, teacher, fly-fisher, and father, written in Lyon’s trademark style–– lucid, personable, witty, and honest, and so compulsively readable you won't want this journey through a life to ever end.” ––W.D. Wetherell “Nick Lyons, legendary American fly fishing author and publisher, has written a superb, bone-honest,  profoundly moving, deeply felt memoir revealing  a complex and multi-layered existence beyond the angling passions for which most of us know him.  Fire in the Straw  is a deft painterly narrative that evokes the ‘inscrutable texture’ of a life meaningfully, thoughtfully  lived at every turn. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” ––Robert DeMott, Edwin and Ruth Kennedy Distinguished Professor, Ohio University “ Fire in the Straw  is brave, moving, above all honest.  From his Brooklyn childhood to the hallowed trout streams of Montana, Nick Lyons charts his wayward course to a fulfilling life.  His touch is light, his heart is generous––it’s a book to be treasured.” ––Bill Barich, author of