A Net for Small Fishes: ‘The Thelma and Louise of the seventeenth century’ Lawrence Norfolk

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Jago weaves an intricate web of social, sexual and political maneuvers that entangles all her characters . Beautifully written, an enticing tale of female friendship and love set in the court of King James I. This total gem of a novel is one that will have you truly believe you are a part of Anne’s world as she fights her way to stay by Frankie’s side but when she loses someone who meant the absolute world to her, Anne’s future is thrown into disarray. Poet and courtier Thomas Overbury was already in the Tower of London when he died, apparently of natural causes. The characters are well drawn, perhaps too well drawn as it is difficult to feel genuine empathy with any of them though easy to understand their frailty.

The story is compelling and Jago uses a lot of literary devices throughout the story to engage the reader and hold that engagement. This is an audiobook review and the narrator, Sarah Durham, totally beguiled me with her beautiful shifting tones and inflexions, which provided greater scope than I expected. The portrait of two women from two different classes, whose friendship seemed impossible, is beautifully depicted in this fine historical fiction. Narrated by Sarah Durham, who was terrific, this is based a real life scandal set in the 1600s and would end up in the Jacobean court.

Prince Henry, following the steps of his mother Anne of Denmark (addicted to masquerades amongst other visual things), had begun to accumulate beautiful objects, under the guidance of James Palmer. Lucy Jags cleverly uses a minoré character in Anne Turner to tell the story of Frances Howard and the ‘Overbury Plot’. The fact that all of the action is filtered through Anne’s voice means that some of Frankie’s escapades have a slightly secondhand air to them, and Carr never really convinces as a replacement for the vile Essex. An affair that risked devastating repercussions but illustrated the attitude of Frances Howard and the loyalty of Anne Turner. 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.

Frances Howard has been married off to the Earl of Essex, a political union, and certainly not a love match. Clothes are a woman’s armour; she may not speak out to assert her dignity and courage, so it falls to her dresser to “display these qualities on her body”. Somewhere between the language, overdone metaphors and feminist retelling of an historical scandal, this book lost me. Frances (Frankie) Howard, a member of the powerful catholic Howard family, was betrothed to the Earl of Essex as a political union.The writing sometimes becomes a bit stilted, because perhaps Jago is more at home with her non-fiction and documentary work. This novel begins and ends with yellow, the colour of deceit, treason and witchcraft during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Frances’s companion Anne Turner, a doctor’s widow, was also implicated; she was Frances’s dresser and fixer, obtainer of both love potions and poisons, and much more vulnerable than the aristocratic Somersets to ruin and social censure. Basti pensare che se cercate notizie su Anne Turner in rete, la troverete alla voce "assassina", descritta solamente con gli aggettivi con cui la definì il suo accusatore (!

The poet and courtier Thomas Overbury was already in the Tower of London when he died, apparently of natural causes, in 1613; two years later, accusations that he’d been poisoned reached King James, and suspicion settled on the king’s favourite – and Overbury’s close friend – Robert Carr, now Earl of Somerset, and his wife Frances Howard. the writing and humour are reminiscent of a modernised austen - that same acerbic wit and satire viewed through a contemporary lens. It demonstrates the strength, loyalty of a true friendship between Anne and Frances as well as their courage as they are vilified. So when Frankie tell Anne of a plot most foul in a bid to reset the game board and give both of them a fresh start, Anne must make decisions that could end up with her being at the mercy of the gallows.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘A Net for Small Fishes’ by Lucy Jago in exchange for an honest review. Enter Anne, a mother of five, wife of an elderly physician, she had some status but only based on her husband's profession.

the Countess, her face glistening, hard as a sugar sculpture' - We all know what a hard face looks like . It centres around the marriage of Frances Howard to the abusive Earl of Essex, her affair with the Kings favourite Robert Carr and the poisoning of poet Sir Thomas Overbury and the subsequent trial.Awe possessed me like a devil, jumping on my organs, pulling the strings of my eyes' - Wait, 'jumping on my organs'? The genuine connection across the class divide was surprising and endearing, openly discussing secrets and desires, which was a risk for that era. A desperate plan to change their fortunes is hatched--but navigating the Jacobean court is a dangerous game and one misstep could cost them everything.