A Net For Small Fishes by Lucy Jago

 

This novel takes place in the court of James I of England.  Frances Howard, a beauty and daughter of the influential Howard family, was married to the Earl of Essex in an attempt to bury the enmity between the two families.  Frances had a waiting lady and dress designer named Anne Turner who was good friends with her.  Anne was married to the court physician when the two women became friends.

Frances's marriage to the Earl Of Essex was never a success and she grew to hate him for his cruel treatment of her.  Frances fell in love with the king's favorite, Robin Carr, and Anne helped her with a plan to get her marriage annulled so that she could marry Carr instead.  Sir Thomas Overby, another influential court advisor, was against the marriage and tried to talk Carr out of it.  He ran afoul of the king and was imprisoned in the Tower where he died.  While there, accusations were made that his death was caused by poison sent by Frances and Anne.

Several years later, individuals were accused of this death.  Richard Weston was a confidant of Anne's and a guard at the Tower.  He confessed that he was given poison by Frances and Anne to kill Overby.  Weston was executed along with several other small players.  After Anne's trial, where she refused to testify against Frances, she was hung.  Frances and Robin were found guilty and sentenced to the Tower for life but later pardoned by the king.

This novel is based on this true story.  The author, Lucy Jago, is sympathetic to the woman, seeing them as confident and independent women not willing to be subservient to the men in their lives.  Frances was used as a pawn by her family and Anne was betrayed by the lover who fathered her three youngest children.  Jago also emphasized the friendship between the two women and the comfort that they were to each other.  I listened to this novel and the narrator was perfect to invoke the English court and it's protocols.  This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction.