Reading a historical novel is something I like to do from time to time and I’m glad I read this one. The book’s title refers to justice, which catches small fry while letting larger fish escape punishment. This is Jago’s first foray into adult fiction – having made her name with an award-winning biography of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland ( The Northern Lights) and a YA novel, Montacute House – and she presents a different, more sympathetic Turner.

Furthermore, The City Always Wins is a novel not just about Egypt’s revolution but about a global generation that tried to change the world. Poet and courtier Thomas Overbury was already in the Tower of London when he died, apparently of natural causes. Jago’s choice of narrator is brave but it did bring big challenges which I’m not convinced she brought off. Lucy Jago highlights a real life 17th century historical scandal set in the reign of James I of England, a blend of fact and fiction that addresses the misogyny of the time in this feminist retelling of the surprisingly strong friendship that sprang between the beautiful Countess of Essex, Frances 'Frankie' Howard and the physician's wife, Mistress Anne Turner, a gifted fashion stylist struggling to find a platform to market her talents in London society.How did the girl who once dreamed of being a Charlie’s Angel become such a cowed and submissive woman? Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects; where ancient families fight for power, and where the sovereign's favourite may rise and rise - so long as he remains in favour. While the heart of the book is certainly Anne, the political power games that were being played by just about every character also drove my interest in the story. Anne is captivated at this new world she has been introduced to full of extravagance and often times tawdry behavior. From the communal highs of pitched night battles against the police in Cairo to the solitary lows of defeated exile in New York, Omar Robert Hamilton’s debut is a unique immersion into one of the key chapters of the 21st century.

It is longer than it needs to be and prior knowledge of the inevitability of events tends to induce a " get on with it " irritability. She makes the period come alive with rich descriptions of London and the intensely competitive nature of the royal court and the rampant political intrigue that marked it. This a very deliberate choice by the author, a reframing to highlight the inequalities and uncertainties faced by women in this period. 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”. Jager doesn't ever milk the melodrama and there is plenty of light along with the darkness - there's genuine love, strong friendships.

In the bravura opening scenes, Anne dresses the weeping Frances for a court appearance, hoping that by making her splendid enough to inspire general respect she can fortify her against her husband’s assaults. Anne Turner, narrator and heroine of Lucy Jago’s A Net for Small Fishes, feels like she steps straight from the stage of a Jacobean masque. The setting is the Court of James 1 in the 1610s and the central figure and narrator is Anne Turner, a seamstress and dresser.