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

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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. With the marriage of their talents, Anne and Frankie enter this extravagant, savage hunting ground, seeking a little happiness for themselves. This is partly a structural issue: we are firmly inside Anne’s consciousness, and she has no narrative access to the men except through encounters with Frances. Frances Howard has been married off to the Earl of Essex, a political union, and certainly not a love match.

Poet and courtier Thomas Overbury was already in the Tower of London when he died, apparently of natural causes. Reading Den tip – it is hard to remember all the different names at court so the list of principal actors at the start is an important reference point. Anne, a “fashioner”, has been summoned by Frankie’s mother in the hope that a change of costume might persuade Essex to undertake his husbandly duties. From another source, I learn that the title is inspired by the quote in a document “make a net to catch little birds and let the great ones go”. This novel begins and ends with yellow, the colour of deceit, treason and witchcraft during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.Howard is in an abusive marriage and wishes to get an annulment and marry her lover Robert Carr, a favourite of the King. It didn‘t captivate me, it kept me just interested enough to finish it, although I have to admit I almost considered putting it down. Anne thrums with life all the way through to her tragic, gruesome end, while Frankie is calculating and alluring.

When the poisoning of the poet Sir Thomas Overbury occurs, and the following trial is prosecuted, the loyalty of the women is paramount. Anne sets about dressing Frankie powerfully to enhance her presence in court and to encourage the Earl of Essex to notice her and hopefully give her a much desired heir. It centres around two women, Lady Frances Howard and Mistress Anne Turner, and also involves the King’s favourite, Robert Carr, and the suspicious death of Sir Thomas Overbury.Jago tells her story by focusing on a close friendship between two women of different status who would work together and try to change their fates during a time when women were meant to accept their places - the places that their fathers, husbands, and brothers made for them. But the heart of the story is about the desperation women can feel in worlds and institutions ruled by the men who are meant to protect them, but instead would use and control them or worse. Neither was two dimensional, Frankie with her desire to be rid of her impotent, cruel husband and Anne, ambitious and scheming. Published by Bloomsbury, and Flatiron Books in the USA and available to purchase through these retailers.

Ma mentre la viziata Frances soffriva per liberarsi del marito e sposare un nuovo amore, Anne pativa l'improvvisa povertà da vedova, costretta a giostrarsi tra pregiudizi e invidie. 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”. Provo una profonda soddisfazione quando qualcuno si dedica a riscoprire un personaggio storico femminile in un'ottica più imparziale e non inquinata dalle ipocrisie maschili e bigotte del tempo. Lucy Jags cleverly uses a minoré character in Anne Turner to tell the story of Frances Howard and the ‘Overbury Plot’. A big thank-you to Lucy Jago, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.The portrait of two women from two different classes, whose friendship seemed impossible, is beautifully depicted in this fine historical fiction. Anne thrums with life all the way through to her tragic, gruesome end, while Frankie is calculating and alluring . Jago is excellent on clothes: the “glittering husks of power” that once belonged to Elizabeth, now waiting for the new queen to step into them; the “gold and silver constructions” that make the power-grabbing Howards seem “larger and, were it not a sin to say it, somewhat divine”. While his teachers try to understand and categorize him, it is only his fellow student, Daria, who seems able to provide a rational insight into the causes of his behaviour and offer him true affection. Enter Anne, a mother of five, wife of an elderly physician, she had some status but only based on her husband's profession.