In May 2020, John Connell and his good friend (Sunday Times-bestselling journalist Peter Geoghegan) found themselves, like so many others, confined to their local area, the opportunity to freely travel and socialise cut short. Their attention turned to the Camlin river – an unquestioned, ever-present source of life for the midland town’s inhabitants and, for John, a site of boyhood adventure, first love, family history and local legend.

They decide to canoe down its course, a two-day trip requiring both physical exertion and mental resilience. Despite the world growing still, the river is alive with signs of life – a symphony of buzzing mayfly and jumping trout – and, as they meander downstream, John reflects on his own life: his travels, his relationships and his battle with depression, as well as on Irish folklore, climate change, geopolitics, social injustice and philosophy. 

Advance Praise for The Stream of Everything

'This is a sensitive, edifying, soul-nourishing book: celebratory, salutary and quietly triumphant. I loved reading it.' DONAL RYAN

'A hugely satisfying read, full of imaginative wonders and absorbing philosophical musings: a terrific book.' MICHAEL HARDING

'At once ambitious and gentle, The Stream of Everything is a book very much of its strange and eye-opening time. BELINDA McKEON

John Connell is author of The Running Book (Picador) and The Cow Book (Granta), 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 issue. He lives on the family farm in County Longford.