Harry Thurston’s eco-memoir Lost River is an elegiac meditation on the way that fishing, the rivers he has fished, and the people he has fished with have shaped his life. It is a story that encompasses both significant loss—of his childhood homestead, of rivers, and of the Atlantic salmon stocks, as well as of family and friends—and significant reward. Whether he’s recounting his experiences fishing his way down his native rivers and streams, reflecting on family bonds and writerly struggles, or recollecting the long work of establishing Nova Scotia’s Kelley River Wilderness Area, Thurston reminds us how fully the human and non-human worlds are interconnected, and of the great value of a life based in attentiveness and affection. Like a fish finally rising to the fly, the beauty and insight of Lost River elicit a bolt of excitement and hope. As one of Thurston’s mentors would say, “It’s good to know that we’re not fishing over barren water.”