In May 2020, John Connell finds himself, like so many others, confined to his local area, the opportunity to freely travel and socialise cut short. His attention turns to the Camlin river – an ever-present source of life for his town’s inhabitants and, for John, a site of boyhood adventure, first love, family history and local legend.
He decides to canoe its course with his friend, Sunday Times journalist Peter Geoghegan, a two-day trip requiring physical exertion and mental resilience. As the world grows still around them, the river continues to teem with life – a symphony of buzzing mayfly and jumping trout. During their meander downstream, John reflects on his life: his travels, his past relationships and his battle with depression, as well as on Irish folklore, geopolitics and philosophy.
The Stream of Everything is both a reverie and a celebration of close observation; a winding, bucolic account of the summer we discovered home.
John Connell is author of The Running Book and The Cow Book, a number-one bestseller and winner of Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. His work has appeared in Granta’s New Irish Writing. He lives on the family farm in County Longford.
