Anne Turner is the wife of a court physician, although genteel she is not wealthy and dependent on the money she makes as a dresser. When she is asked to work with Frances Howard she falls under the spell of a beautiful but mercurial woman in an abusive marriage. Frances' husband, the Earl of Essex, is impotent and despises his wife but when Frances meets Robert Carr, favourite of King James, suddenly the marriage becomes a cause celebre that splits the court. In order to help Frances, Anne risks all.
The scandal around the divorce of the Essex and the subsequent death of a courtier were part of the history of the court of James I. Here Jago has created a fictionalised account but much of the history is accurate and well-researched. The character of Anne is quite cleverly drawn, she is neither the innocent or the witch but she is also portrayed as a woman who has selfish motives for many of her actions. What I also liked was the juxtaposition between the show of court life and the banality of 'normal' life and the way that for many middle-class women the reliance on a male breadwinner was a precarious way to survive.

Anne Turner, widow and fashioner, hovering on the verge of poverty, is summoned to the aid of Frances Howard, the beautiful and wealthy but emotionally and physically battered Countess of Essex. It is the reign of King James, and Frankie is married to the wife beating Robert Devereaux.
Anne and Frankie strike up an unlikely friendship but circumstances are very different for both women...both are dependent on men for their financial states, which leaves Anne, as a widow, constantly fretting about her precarious circumstances and how she can improve them. Frankie is wealthy, until she separates from her husband. She sets her sights on Robert Carr, and it is at this point that the women hatch a plan, which very quickly starts to unravel.

The novel is based on a true story, the murder of Thomas Overbury, and the subsequent fallout of that decision. The novel is narrated by Anne, whose desperations and dilemmas are beautifully represented, as are the descriptions of London life, in the streets that Anne navigates and the scenes of court life. The title of the novel suggests who it is that pays the penalty, and the ending leaves one feeling much empathy with Anne.
Well worth reading.

With thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the review copy in return for an honest review.

This was a complete historical treat of a book, shining a light on a period of history that I thought I knew a little about, but expanding that 100-fold with all of the historical detail and intrigue laced into every page.

Mistress Annie Turner is a mother of 6, married to a doctor to the court, so she moves in high circles and is well aware of her station. She meets the beautiful Lady Francesca Essex (Frankie for short) when Frankie's terrible husband has beaten her mercilessly for lack of consummation of their marriage. The book is the story of their friendship and their fortunes, richly detailing how life in Stuart courts was for women, who are so dependent on their husbands and families for everything. The characters are largely based on real people and real incidents, and I would be fascinated to learn more about life at that time

A strong five stars, recommend to all!

A true story of two women in the royal court of King James I, one noble and wealthy, trapped in an unhappy and abusive marriage and one poor and dependent on her skill as a stylist to feed her family of 6 children. Lady Frances Howard, born into one of the most noble families of England and her friendship with Anne Turner shows how desperate the plight of women in the sixteenth century was. Their attempts to free themselves from unfair rules that governed their lives, their bodies, their speech and their right to happiness leads down a dark path of attempted murder and eventual public disgrace, accusations of witchcraft and death. It is also the story of two women loyal to each other to the grave, whose capacity for love and friendship and their strength of character t transcended the harsh rules of the society they lived in and ultimately defied. Their desperation for love and peace and security in their lives, and the betrayals of every man they depended on, soak through the pages and into your soul. This is a must=read.

For me, this book had everything I love in historical fiction. The author, Lucy Jago, writes brilliantly with adjectives everywhere. .

The story revolves around a real-life 17th-century historical scandal that took place in the reign of James I of England .with many sumptuous characters brought to life. We have feminism, mistresses, class differences,, murder and much more! Ms Jago must have lived through these in a past life?

The two main characters are the Countess of Essex, Frances 'Frankie' Howard and physician's wife, Anne Turner, a struggling, gifted fashion stylist. with children from her marriage and her lover. The women have a unique friendship and their dialogue is a wonderful reflection of life in those times. Don't get bored by it!

I cannot praise Ms Jago high enough, and an easy 5 stars. Is there more from her?

Thanks to Net Galley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the chance to read and review.

If, and it's a big if, you can fight your way through the bizarre writing style, this is a book that is worth reading.

Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is the most gripping novel you'll read this year: an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court.

I found this book to be difficult to get into and the characters and plot too tedious and uninteresting. I struggled to finish the book.

A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago highlights a real-life 17th-century historical scandal that took place in the reign of James I of England.

The novel is a blend of fact and fiction in a feminist retelling of the strong friendship that formed between the beautiful Countess of Essex, Frances 'Frankie' Howard and physician's wife, Mistress Anne Turner, a struggling, gifted fashion stylist.

Anne has six children, their ages ranging from 4 to 16 years old, the elder three children from her marriage to her husband Dr George Turner, and her three younger children are from her relationship with her lover, Arthur Waring.

Eighteen-year-old Frankie is unhappily married to Sir Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex. She is the daughter of an Earl and part of the Howard dynasty. Their marriage has not been consummated and the Earl physically abuses her and regards her with suspicion. Although Frankie goes to great lengths to make her marriage work, helped by Anne, as Frankie's attention is caught by another man she becomes careless in her efforts to gain an annulment of her marriage.

Anne Turner serves as the novel’s narrator, so the reader experiences people and occurrences through her awareness. Lucy Jago's writing is gloriously rich and totally immersive. The language used in the novel feels authentic and I found that it deepened my engrossment. She marvellously portrays the powerful sense of religious conviction felt by those living during the time period, as well as the belief in medicine, potions, magic, witchcraft, and other superstitions.

This is a really fascinating story that drew me in right from the first pages, with layered characters, and a vividly drawn setting. The great pacing also contributed to my huge appreciation of the story. A Net for Small Fishes is an astonishingly good début novel that I recommend highly.

I read A Net for Small Fishes in staves with other Pigeonholers as part of a group. A special thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing, Lucy Jago, NetGalley and The Pigeonhole for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request. This review is my unbiased opinion.

Very interesting historical fiction covering the Overbury scandal but retold from the point of view of the women. Anne and Frankie meet and become fast friends. Anne is the wife of a doctor and makes clothes for courtiers. Frankie is the wife of the Earl of Sussex, who regularly beats and abuses her. Frankie meets and falls in love with Robert Carr - the King’s favourite - and then schemes to rid herself of her marriage so they can be together.

The friendship of the 2 women is the main crux of this story. Even though they come from different classes and age groups, they form a deep unshakable bond. The author takes us through English society during the age of the Stuarts and how oppressed women are. Frankie is seen as very radical (and having base lustful desires) for wanting an annulment from her marriage even though her husband was unable to consummate their marriage for 3 years. Anne is left destitute when her husband dies and her son forces her and the younger children out of their home. She also has to contend with her lover and father of 3 of her children dragging his heels to marry her and forcing her to stay in a state of mourning where she can’t work or be seen around town for 2 years even though she’s practically destitute. The society isn’t kind to women and expect them to be meek and deferential to men.

I really enjoyed reading this and seeing how these women’s characters develop as they navigate politics, nobility and the pressures of surviving a world where they have very little agency or funds. The increasingly high stakes they are forced to gamble on fill you with tension as you read this book. I didn’t know anything about the scandal so it was refreshing coming to this blind without expectation. The language is lush and draws you into that time period. The personalities and contrasts in the women as they struggle to find security and happiness will keep you enthralled right to the bitter sweet ending.

We’re given an insight into life in the 17th Century. Whilst essentially this story is fiction, the characters we meet were real people from that era. This made for a fascinating tale of the kind of life they may have led - the self indulgence for the wealthy, the complicated love lives where love and adultery walked side by side and anyone who got in the way would likely be poisoned.
The ugly side of the times is portrayed in bear baiting and other cruel sport. The story begins and ends with hanging. To think people made an outing of watching these events. An excellent book. Very well worth reading. .

Lucy Jago's 'A Net for Small Fishes' is based on a true historical scandal from the court of James I. It gives the women embroiled in it - Frances Howard and Anne Turner - a voice, and explains events on the basis of their friendship. It also depicts the differences in their lives and fates according to their financial status and power - Frances is from one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, whilst Anne is an ambitious doctor's wife and then widow.

I really enjoyed this novel. It completely drew me in and brilliantly highlighted the moral ambiguity of events. Jago brings a lot of knowledge to the subject and it was rich with details about life in 1609 and the excesses of court. I would recommend this novel to others, and also look forward to future books from this author.

I have read a number of books on the Overbury murder, most recently prior to this, The Poison Bed by EC Fremantle as the events captured are both heinous and intriguing. Should we feel sorry for Frances Howard, who may have been involved in the plot to murder a friend of her would-be lover because she doesn't have the freedoms women have today? In this book I found her to be capricious, selfish and to only possess a small amount of any redeeming qualities. The reader has much more sympathy in this book with Anne Turner, friend to Frances, who will ultimately find that there is no such thing as equal justice under the law. Anne is the narrator here and there were times I wanted to shout at her for making such poor choices, but for the most part, I just felt incredibly sorry for her.

A quick and entertaining march through James I's extravagant and fickle court, where favouritism brings both riches and danger.

Beautifully written and full of life, Jago's world is one of vivid characters, firm friendships and passion. I absolutely loved this book, it reminded me in many ways of both Mantel and Gregory, Gregory's vivacious personalities mixed with Mantel's literary prowess.

I'd highly recommend for fans of historical and otherwise, huge thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC! I went straight to Waterstones and bought my copy.

I have to confess as I was reading this I couldn't really understand where the story was going or what the plot was actually about, I had no clear feeling of what the aim was or what the two main female characters were hoping to achieve. So I honestly had no idea of where we were going. Because of this the book sometimes felt a little long and aimless.
Soon I fell into the more character driven story and just decided to go with it as I enjoyed the company of these two women and their families/surrounding players.

The story ended up being almost secondary to the relationship these two women had, but there was indeed a story - despite the long winded way of getting there and at the end I felt sad at the way it had turned out. Despite most of the time saying 'well you are guilty of all they accuse you of Anne Turner''!

What surprised me most was the fact this was based on a true story, which I only realised at the end and completely changed the way I viewed the book. This wasn't a slow study of women's domestic set up in the 17thC it was a portrait of how real women had to fight and use whatever was at their disposal to overturn their fate that was always largely at the hands of men, whether that be potions, angels, devils, prayers, using men, lying etc. So yes Anne was guilty of trying to poison Overbury but of course the larger reason is why.... to save her friend from a terrible fate.

Before he was hanged Weston said that his trial was a 'net to catch small fishes' in that bigger guilty fish could get away from facing their guilt, meaning Frankie and the nobility. But of course, it could also mean that society as a whole acted as a net to catch the small fishes of women and let men get away with far more than they were allowed.

It strangely grew on me and I will miss Anne and Frankie!

An interesting premise and an era I always enjoy reading about, but this particular book really failed to engage me. The characters were underdeveloped and the plot felt rambling.

This is an intriguing book which held my interest throughout. It gives good insights into the Overbury Scandal and the court of James I from the perspective of women as opposed to men who held all the political and societal power at that time.

We are drawn into the lives of Francis Howard and Anne Turner and their families. The writing is vivid and arresting with well drawn characters and a pacy plot. The two central characters are not portrayed as perfect but they are likeable and convincing.

I would strongly recommend this piece of historical fiction even to those who think that historical fiction isn’t their ‘thing’. There is something for everyone within the pages of this well crafted novel.

I really wanted to like this and I persisted even after I had lost all interest in the main characters as people but it wasn't for me. It has spurred to find out more about the historical period (I'm a bit light on the Jacobeans) and the real-life people involved but I just couldn't warm to them as written. The plot was interesting, I have no problems with historical fiction going beyond or around existing primary source evidence. I just found it all a bit shallow.
Well written so realistically it should be 2.5 stars

I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of historical fiction I was looking forward to reading this book. I have to admit to being one of the few people on earth who didn’t enjoy Wolf Hall so when I read comments suggesting it was an ideal book for those feeling bereft at the end of Mantel’s trilogy I was suddenly apprehensive. I needn’t have worried! You’re instantly thrown into the world of Anne and Frances, and the court of King James. There’s so much drama, scandal and rumour that it’s hard to know where to turn and who to trust but Anne and Frances soon find each other and come to develop a deep and lasting friendship.

I knew next to nothing about the plot and I felt that this deepened my enjoyment - there was something creeping around every corner and I could barely put this book down. There’s romance, friendship, intrigue, drama and a little bit of witchcraft, and everything comes together to make a fascinating story about the dangers of being too close to power, and also the dangers of being a woman unhappy in her marriage in the seventeenth century.

It’s a tightly written novel and one that keeps your attention from beginning to end. I loved it!

An intelligently written and well researched novel based on an unlikely friendship between Frances/Frankie Howard and dresser to nobility Anne Turner, encompassing the love story between the beautiful and privileged Howard girl and First Earl of Somerset Sir Robert Carr.
I openly admit that I am an uncultured reader who shamelessly cares little for history so it was at times a hard going read for me as I found the filth and squalor bile inducing. How anyone can be unwashed and yet dress so elaborately in the splendour and pomp of gowns, fake hair, and painted faces leaves me feeling grubby and in need of a scalding hot scrub down! Setting aside my idiosyncrasies, I was able to appreciate the immense detail that brought to life this period of King James and the Royal Court. The power of families squabbling to be in prime position and the underhand ways to succour favour is portrayed vividly, and left me open mouthed at the bizarre way in which people behaved. I've never liked Alice in Wonderland for its surreal and frankly mad nature, and in the same way, A Net for Small Fishes produced a similar disquieting within me that I did not like but could not turn away from.
The poverty and threat of disease, starvation and death is also minutely documented in the swish of Lucy Jago's pen, conveying the horror of how far one can fall in society and require the mercy of those around them.
But this was not a forgiving or generous spirited time and Anne makes many unwise decisions in choosing over and over again to support Francis, for Frankie needs her marriage annulled and Sir Thomas Overbury, ever present friend of Robert Carr, silenced.
The story is harsh and full of foreboding. Who will pay the price of making enemies, rather than alliances, within the Royal Court and who else will suffer? It is this element of the unknown that compels the reader to keep on turning the pages.
Not really a book I would pick up again, but this will undoubtedly be read and enjoyed by many more than those who choose to not read it.
Thank you to the author, publisher Netgalley and Pigeonhole for allowing me to read this historical novel.

This is a story of two women who develop an unlikely friendship and cling together though the rough and tumble of life both in the Jacobean Court and the streets of London. Together Annie Turner and Frances Howard, Countess of Essex raise each other up and pull each other under. It is a fictionalised but highly researched retelling of these two women's life as they get caught up in political intrigue and take desperate steps to try and secure their happiness and safety. The depth of the author knowledge shines through and it is the everyday touches, the use of egg white on faces, that enrich this novel as much as the searing insight into court machinations. The writing is vivid, detailed and compassionate and the reader is fully pulled in as we watch these characters make decisions that pave the way to the inevitable end. The court scenes were particularly powerful as we watch the power of a misogynistic society unleash its full power. Skillfully written, this is a remarkable debut novel.