Fishnet (novel)
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}{{Short description|2015 novel by Kirstin Innes}}{{Infobox book
| author = Kirstin Innes
| isbn = 9781910449066
| pub_date = July 1, 2015
| publisher = Freight Books
| image = Fishnet (novel).jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| award = Not the Booker Prize (2015)
}}
Fishnet is the debut novel of Kirstin Innes, 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's Not the Booker Prize 2015.{{Cite news |last=Jordison |first=Sam |date=2015-10-12 |title=Not the Booker prize 2015: Kirstin Innes wins with Fishnet – video |language=en-GB |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/12/not-the-booker-prize-2015-watch-the-judging-meeting-live |access-date=2016-04-28 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=8 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608091830/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/12/not-the-booker-prize-2015-watch-the-judging-meeting-live |url-status=live }} Innes spoke about the book at the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival.{{cite web |title=Kirstin Innes |url=https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/writers/kirstin-innes |accessdate=28 January 2016 |website=Edinburgh International Book Festival |archive-date=17 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917173440/https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/writers/kirstin-innes |url-status=live }}
In August 2018, Fishnet was re-published by Black & White Publishing, following the liquidation of Freight Books in December 2017.{{Cite web |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=2017-12-06 |title=Freight authors aghast as former publisher sets up new imprint |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/06/freight-authors-aghast-as-former-publisher-sets-up-new-imprint |access-date=2018-08-09 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=9 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809220754/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/06/freight-authors-aghast-as-former-publisher-sets-up-new-imprint |url-status=live }}
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".{{cite web |last1=Innes |first1=Kirstin |title=Kirstin Innes on Fishnet: 'It took me a long time to work out whether I had the right to do this.' |url=https://www.list.co.uk/article/69679-kirstin-innes-on-fishnet-it-took-me-a-long-time-to-work-out-whether-i-had-the-right-to-do-this/ |url-status=dead |website=The List |access-date=28 January 2016 |archive-date=7 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707191812/https://www.list.co.uk/article/69679-kirstin-innes-on-fishnet-it-took-me-a-long-time-to-work-out-whether-i-had-the-right-to-do-this/ }} After further research, Innes stated that her "politics were completely flipped on their heads".{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/sep/01/fishnet-by-kirstin-innis-complicating-the-story-of-sex-work|title=Fishnet by Kirstin Innes – complicating the story of sex work|last=Jordison|first=Sam|date=2015-09-01|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=2016-04-28|archive-date=23 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223105702/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/sep/01/fishnet-by-kirstin-innis-complicating-the-story-of-sex-work|url-status=live}}
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.{{cite web |title=Signed copies of Fishnet by Kirstin Innes |url=http://www.freightbooks.co.uk/fishnet-by-kirstin-innes-p628.html |accessdate=28 January 2016 |website=Freight Books |archive-date=27 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127130905/http://freightbooks.co.uk/fishnet-by-kirstin-innes-p628.html |url-status=live }}
Reception
Fishnet won the Guardian's 2015 Not the Booker Prize.{{cite web|title=Not the Booker prize 2015: Kirstin Innes wins with Fishnet – video|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/12/not-the-booker-prize-2015-watch-the-judging-meeting-live|website=The Guardian|accessdate=28 January 2016|archive-date=8 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608091830/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/12/not-the-booker-prize-2015-watch-the-judging-meeting-live|url-status=live}}
Fishnet has been praised for its use of dialogue and Scottish vernacular,{{cite web |last1=Christopher |first1=Lucy |date=30 April 2015 |title=Sex Work: Kirstin Innes on debut novel Fishnet |url=http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/features/fishnet |accessdate=28 January 2016 |website=The Skinny |archive-date=7 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507225509/http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/features/fishnet |url-status=live }} and criticised for its use of present tense and "lectures on prostitution in the guise of blog entries". However, The Herald
The Independent included Fishnet on its list of 2015's "top 10 debut fiction books".