A Net for Small Fishes

Sumptuous ... If you're feeling bereft after finishing The Mirror and the Light, let Jago transport you back to the Jacobean court -- Lucy Scholes * Daily Telegraph * Dazzling * Sunday Independent * A terrific first novel, rich in colour, character, place and time. If you like your history spiced with sex, scandal and the sweet sensibilities of female friendship, then this is for you -- Sarah Dunant A fabulous book. Frankie and Anne's world is not just brilliantly evoked but brilliantly sustained. Lucy Jago doesn't make a single false step. And it's exciting! -- Andrew Miller The Thelma and Louise of the seventeenth century: two mis-matched heroines, two grittily textured lives, an outrageous plot (true!), sex, politics, and a gut-wrenching ending -- Lawrence Norfolk Full of colour, intrigue and historical characters we can relate to ... Jago has a great flair for the sensuous image and evokes the heady mix of gaudy glamour and grime that characterises the era with a distinctive, dense poetry. Historical fiction at its scintillating best and most filmic -- Susan Elderkin Unflinching ... She lays bare the corruption of the Jacobean court, her sharp prose illuminating its dark corners and the complexities of her subject matter * Lunate.co.uk * We've had so much Tudor fiction of the years from authors including Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory, that it's great to escape to a different era as Lucy Jago takes us to the court of James I * Scotsman * Bravura historical debut ... Gloriously immersive ... Jago makes her a brilliantly engaging narrator ... Jago is excellent on clothes ... Throughout the novel, surface detail is deftly handled to convey deeper anxieties and shifts in attitude ... Jago keenly conveys the peril of being a woman of any class in the 17th century ... Like all the best historical fiction, A Net for Small Fishes is a gloriously immersive escape from present times, but it's not escapism * Guardian *