Fishnet

by Kirstin Innes

Overview

A “thoughtful, bruising, poignant, and poetic” (Ian Rankin) debut in which a woman’s search for her missing sister leads her into the world of contemporary sex work.

Rona Leonard was only twenty-years-old when she walked out of her sister Fiona’s flat and disappeared.

Six years later—worn down by a tedious job, childcare, and an aching absence in her life—Fiona’s mundane existence is blown apart by the revelation that Rona had been working as a prostitute before she vanished. Driven to discover the truth, Fiona embarks on an obsessive quest to investigate the sex industry that claimed her sister. However, as she is drawn into this complex world, Fiona finds herself seduced by the power it offers women in a society determined to see them only as victims.

In bold, unflinching prose, Fishnet offers a clear-eyed look at the lives of sex workers, questioning our perception of contemporary femininity and challenging assumptions about power, vulnerability, and choice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982116156
Publisher:	Gallery/Scout Press
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Kirstin Innes is an award-winning writer, journalist and arts worker living in the west of Scotland. She founded the Glasgow literary salon Words Per Minute, and has had short stories published in a number of anthologies and commissioned by BBC Radio 4. Kirstin has won the Allen Wright Award for Excellence in Arts Journalism twice.

Editorial Reviews

…Fishnet is one of those rare and refreshing crime novels in which the victim isn't victimized, and where her life and community are as important as the mystery of her disappearance.

The New York Times Book Review - Ivy Pochoda

08/05/2019

In British author Innes’s gritty, unconventional debut, 20-year-old Rona Leonard vanishes, leaving her infant daughter in the care of her older sister, Fiona. Six years later, Fiona—still a single mother working a dreary job in a failing business in an unnamed Scottish city—attends a hen party in the last place her sister was seen, a touristy Highlands village. There Fiona meets a friend of her sister who forces her to accept that Rona was working as a prostitute when she disappeared. Stunned, Fiona becomes obsessed with the online ads for sex workers, as well as with the women plying their trade near her grim office building as she tries to discover what became of Rona. Fiona’s preconceptions of prostitution and her own dead-end life are shattered as she gets to know women trading sex for cash. Innes tends to take to the soapbox to champion the rights of sex workers, and Fiona’s efforts to get out of her rut at times matter more than her quest to find Rona. Still, this is a captivating mystery with plenty of mainstream appeal. Agent: Charlie Brotherstone, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Fishnet contains many more instances of gritty brilliance following its dramatic start... Fishnet is one of those rare and refreshing crime novels in which the victim isn’t victimized, and where her life and community are as important as the mystery of her disappearance."
—New York Times Book Review

"Thoughtful, bruising, poignant, and poetic."
—Ian Rankin

"Fishnet is a determined debut from an inimitable talent. Kirstin Innes takes the reader on a remarkable, authentic journey into the contemporary realm of prostitution."
—Lisa O'Donnell, nationally bestselling author of The Death of Bees

"Bold, sensual, and unflinching, Fishnet lays bare a world too often misjudged and misunderstood. Kirstin Innes writes with courage, warmth, and real insight. This is a hugely enjoyable and important book."
—Emma Jane Unsworth, award-winning author of Animals

"It's dark and provocative, and it holds its gaze steady on the sex industry. Here's a new writer with huge talents and promise."
—Sarah Hall, author of The Electric Michelangelo, a Man Booker Prize finalist

"Innes strikes sparks by rubbing a clandestine world (here, prostitution in Scotland) against the everyday. Unsettling and seductive, this tale of two sisters is moving, gripping, and unforgettable."
—The Independent

"[Fishnet] asks difficult and brave questions about prostitution . . . Innes presents convincing characters, living believable lives, and so she is able to dig deeper into these emotive issues than facts and stats alone can hope to go."
—The Guardian

"It's extremely rare for a novel actually to change public attitudes, but Fishnet already has."
—The Herald

"[S]et to be a massive hit and deserves every ounce of that success."
—The Huffington Post

From the Publisher

2019-07-28
A judgmental single mother's search for her impetuous younger sibling leads to unexpected self-discovery in Scottish journalist Innes' searing debut.

Six years ago, 20-year-old Rona Leonard paid a surprise visit to her older sister, Fiona; during the night, she snuck out of Fiona's flat and vanished. Six years later, her family has largely abandoned their search when one of Fiona's friends books a "hen weekend" in the Scottish Highland village that served as Rona's last known address. A frank conversation with Rona's former roommate, Christina, reveals that the women parted ways after Christina discovered Rona turning tricks in their flat. At her job at a construction company the following Monday, Fiona is told by her boss to call the police on a group of women protesting the replacement of a shelter for homeless sex workers with a leisure complex. She complies, but not before warning the demonstrators and bringing them tea. Fiona begins trolling online listings, forums, and websites, ostensibly looking for Rona but also because she can't stop thinking about the picketers and how little they resembled her preconceived notions about prostitutes. As salacious curiosity becomes single-minded obsession, Fiona starts neglecting her job and young daughter. But the deeper down the rabbit hole Fiona falls, the closer she comes to understanding Rona and her decisions. The mystery of Rona's disappearance takes a back seat to Innes' efforts to pull back the curtain on, reduce stigma for, and promote legalization of sex work. Nuanced characters from all walks of life subvert stereotypes and challenge misconceptions regarding exploitation and agency, and although the plot holds few surprises, Innes' bold, evocative prose never fails to enthrall.

An edgy, illuminating march toward an inexorable conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews