As we threaded our way through a maze of passages, the cries of a woman disturbed the torpid peace. The servant sped up. It troubled me that we charged toward the sounds of anguish. Lucy Jago’s A Net For Small Fishes is a flawless slow-burning historical fiction novel with breathtaking characterisation and complex female relationships, featuring a writing style that really feels of the time and is ripe with metaphor and rich imagery. Crossing an inner courtyard, we passed a fountain on which figures in pale marble wrestled, their naked limbs frosted by the English winter. The water at their feet was stopped and a stench rose from the puddle in its scalloped bowl, yellow with the piss of noblemen and their dogs; even the places these people relieved themselves were not ordinary. Awe possessed me like a devil, jumping on my organs, pulling the strings of my eyes' - Wait, 'jumping on my organs'? A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.

We are all caught, from the highest to the lowest, in nets of custom and propriety; those that cut themselves free do not swim away but are destroyed.” The court of James I of Scotland & England (Great Britain) is brought to life in this vivid historical drama, based on a story that had far-reaching consequences as it was mired in scandal. A Net for Small Fishes is a compelling weave of imaginative fiction with meaningful historical disclosures. The royal courts at the time were places of deadly political machinations where winners held power and wealth, while the losers lost land, position, and often their lives. Lucy Jago creates a perilous and edgy atmosphere that encircles the story of two unlikely female friends who sought to change their lives from the abusive and restrained existence they endured. Riveting . . . In a narrative that brims over with colour and invention, Jago summons up Jacobean London with enormous persuasiveness." Centred on the Overbury scandal (which I knew nothing about, though I ended up being glad of that as I was able to let the story unfold without thinking ahead), this book tells the story of Anne and Frankie, whose all-consuming friendship crosses the chasm of class and age as Anne tries to navigate her reduced position as a widowed mother of six and Frankie finds herself in a loveless and violent marriage at court.I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I became engrossed in jago’s tale of royal courts and companionships. both anne and frankie are carefully crafted characters reimagined from the snippets we know of their real history together. the writing and humour are reminiscent of a modernised austen - that same acerbic wit and satire viewed through a contemporary lens. at times the novel is brutal in its commentary on misogyny and the treatment of women at this time, evoking a plethora of emotions that are sure to make any modern reader angry. but at its core, a net for small fishes is a story of the power of female friendships and how no one is too small to make a difference in another’s life. Painting also enriches the tale of the two main female characters. Depictions of Judity and Holofernes, a very popular theme in Renaissance and Baroque Italian painting, provides Jago, with additional drama and impact. Hand nets are operated by hand and are used to scoop fish out of the water. The net is held in the water, and the fish is scooped up and then lifted out of the water. The nets are typically used in shallow water, and the user wades through the water to catch fish. Types of Hand Nets

As you prepare for your next angling adventure, choosing the correct fishing net is essential. Types of Fishing Nets Understanding Fishing Landing Nets I got to tell you, the lives of the ultra elite and privileged never ceases to astound me! While the heart of the book is certainly Anne, the political power games that were being played by just about every character also drove my interest in the story. While the pace might be too slow for some readers, for me it was laying the groundwork for the dramatic conclusion. There is a great scandal in the court of King James I. It seems that the poet and courtier Thomas Overbury was poisoned while a prisoner in the Tower of London. Suspicion settles on Robert Carr, now Earl of Somerset and his wife Frances Howard. Frances’ companion Anne Turner, the widow of a doctor is also implicated. She is more vulnerable that the Somersets—justice, it seems, falls on the ‘small fishes’ while the big fish swim away.

Q&A's about Fishing Nets

Viewpoint: I’m sympathetic to feminist readings. However, writers should realise choice of viewpoint will have consequences. This is a story about aristocrats and royalty. Selecting a downwardly mobile middle class woman as narrator distances the reader from the action. An important part of the action concerns a gay male romantic triangle, so the female narrator character is doubly distanced. Also, she is based on a real person in history, and her actual historical conclusion might not sit well with a work of fiction which has a requirement for closure that history doesn’t provide. Jago’s choice of narrator is brave but it did bring big challenges which I’m not convinced she brought off. Anne Turner, narrator and heroine of Lucy Jago’s A Net for Small Fishes, feels like she steps straight from the stage of a Jacobean masque. To an extent, she does. Turner, the widow of a London doctor, was a historical figure hanged at Tyburn for her part in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. She became an instant celebrity, vilified by contemporary playwrights. Turner was the subject of the anonymous play The Widow, and features in Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s The World Tossed at Tennis. Trap nets are stationary nets that are placed on the bottom of a water body or attached to a floating device. Fish swim into the trap and are then unable to find their way out. Trap nets are commonly used for commercial fishing. Advantages of Trap Nets: But as Anne starts to rise in the world of the elite, accompanying Frankie on her journey of wanting to be rid of her abusive husband, will they be able to stay friends or will dark forces and those who only want to see them fail bring an end to them both?