''Fishnet'' is the debut novel of

Kirstin Innes Kirstin Innes (born 1980) is a Scottish novelist and journalist. Early life Innes was born in Edinburgh in 1980, and raised by a single mother. She attended James Gillespie's High School and then University of Aberdeen. Career In 2005, ...

, published in 2015 by Freight Books. The story follows a Scottish woman who, after learning her missing sister was working as a sex worker, sets out to examine the sex industry. ''Fishnet'' was the winner of the

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

Not the Booker Prize The Not the Booker Prize is an annual literary award presented by ''The Guardian''. To be eligible for the Prize, books must meet all criteria for the Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001 ...

2015. Innes spoke about the book at the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival. In August 2018, ''Fishnet'' was re-published by Black & White Publishing, following the liquidation of Freight Books in December 2017.

Background

Innes conducted three years of research to complete ''Fishnet''. Along with online research, she conducted interviews with sex workers and sex workers' rights activists and advocates. Innes had admitted that before researching the Scottish sex industry, she maintained the common misconception that all sex workers are victims. In an interview with ''The List'', she stated that in 2009, she thought being a sex worker meant that person was "a victim, a poor soul, probably a drug addict, a sad indictment of our patriarchal society". After further research, Innes stated that her "politics were completely flipped on their heads".

Plot summary

Twenty-year-old Rona Leonard leaves her sister Fiona's flat and disappears. Six years later, Fiona lives a mundane existence, struggling through a tedious office job and child care. Her life suddenly changes when she learns Rona was working as a sex worker. On a journey to uncover the truth about her sister, Fiona investigates the sex industry and meets with sex workers. Her misconceptions of the sex industry are challenged, and what she uncovers changes her life forever.

Reception

''Fishnet'' won the Guardian's 2015 Not the Booker Prize. ''Fishnet'' has been praised for its use of dialogue and Scottish vernacular, and criticised for its use of present tense and "lectures on prostitution in the guise of blog entries". However, '' The Herald'''s Iain Macwhirter applauded the ways the novel challenged public misconceptions about sex workers as victims, and Irish sex worker rights activist Laura Lee, writing for '' The Huffington Post,'' praised Innes's nuanced representation of sex workers. James Kidd, writing for '' The Independent,'' called ''Fishnet'' "unsettling and seductive" and compared it to ''Trainspotting'', Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel about Scottish heroin users, as it portrays a "clandestine world ..against the every day". ''The Independent'' included ''Fishnet'' on its list of 2015's "top 10 debut fiction books".

References

{{reflist 2015 British novels 2015 debut novels