Book cover for Lucy Jago's A Net for Small Fishes
'Richly imagined… gloriously immersive'
Justine Jordan, The Guardian
  • Image of Lucy Jago's A Net for Small Fishes with UK cover
    'Richly imagined… gloriously immersive'
    Justine Jordan, The Guardian
  • Image of Lucy Jago's A Net for Small Fishes with USA cover
    'TOP TEN books for November 21'
    Amazon.com
The Guardian logo
‘Richly imagined… gloriously immersive’
Justine Jordan
Read review here
The Telegraph logo
‘Sumptuous … If you’re feeling bereft after finishing The Mirror and the Light, let Jago transport you back to the Jacobean court’
The Observer logo
‘Superb exploration of female agency, sexuality and class …
Anne thrums with life all the way through to her tragic, gruesome end, while Frankie is calculating and alluring …
Scintillating novel that plunges you head-first into a darkly compelling chapter of British history’
Read Observer review here
The Sunday Times logo
Chosen as the Book of the Month in the round up of Best New Historical Fiction.
‘Riveting … In a narrative that brims over with colour and invention,
Jago summons up Jacobean London with enormous persuasiveness.’
Nick Rennison
Read Sunday Times review here
The Washington Post Newspaper
"The corrupt, licentious court of England’s James I makes a fittingly baroque backdrop for A Net for Small Fishes.... Jago weaves an intricate web of social, sexual and political manoeuvres that entangles all her characters.... [A] narrative stuffed with vividly drawn secondary characters and atmospheric set pieces.... A Net for Small Fishes is also highly satisfying entertainment."
Wendy Smith
Read The Washington Post review here
Daily Express logoDaily Mirror logo
‘What a tale! Rich in intrigue and incident … A Net For Small Fishes is wonderfully dramatic and movingly tragic.
With a wealth of detail on every atmospheric page, as the charismatic, flawed figures of Anne and Frankie
try to live and love in the “cesspit” of a royal court,
this is historical fiction at its immersive, intriguing best’
Sunday Independent logo
‘Dazzling.’
The Bookseller logo
‘I love it!’
Alice O'Keeffe
Tatler logo
‘A magnificent reimagining of a scandal in the Jacobean court …
Masques, machinations and murder ensue, as well as affairs, gorgeously described clothes and a dangerous friendship’
Read article here
BBC logo
Picked as a Fiction Highlight for 2021 on the BBC website.
Read BBC review here
Times Literary Supplement logo
‘Precisely evoked … a complex and intelligent interpretation’
The Times newspaper logo
‘A powerful take on a fascinating piece of history’

Endorsements

“A Net for Small Fishes brings adds a new and modern insight to a famous historical intrigue. The intricate complexities of the Jacobean court are beautifully told but it is the relationship between these two women, Frances Howard, Countess of Essex and Mistress Anne Turner as they play the cards life has dealt them that is both riveting and contemporary.”
Alex Shulman
  • 'Brilliantly evoked and brilliantly sustained'

    Andrew Miller
    Winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
  • 'The research, the structure, the characters, the voice with which to carry so much narrative and the unfolding of a complex story at the right pace.'

    Sarah Dunant
    Walter Scott Historical Fiction Prize, shortlist
  • 'Historical fiction at its scintillating best'

    Susan Elderkin
    Betty Trask Award, winner
  • 'The Thelma and Louise of the seventeenth century'

    Laurence Norfolk
    Somerset Maugham Award, winner
Read More

Buy A Net for Small Fishes

Lucy Jago's new book A Net for Small Fishes was released in the UK on 4th February and in the USA on 16th November 2021.
Published by Bloomsbury, and Flatiron Books in the USA and available to purchase through these retailers. Please click the logos to place your order:

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Waterstones Special Edition

Special edition from Waterstones of A Net for Small Fishes with black edges
Purchse through the link below to buy Waterstones special edition black edged hardback copy of
A Net For Small Fishes for just:

£14.99

RRP: Hardback: £16.99 | Audio: £16.99 | ebook: £11.89
Purchase Now
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