Thank you so much to Virago and NetGalley for this advance ARC!

Between the bohemian demimonde of New York and the affluent Black community of Detroit in the 1970s, Lewis Jones is a party girl for the ages—a woman in her thirties who has reached a point of freedom, confidence, and mayhem. She is supported in her adventures, in every way, by her husband, Woody. She is accompanied by her friend Kitty Kat, a gay hustler with impeccable style and a knack for finding all the best spots. She soaks in baths of champagne, powders her nose with cocaine, wakes up on silk sheets with a variety of lovers. And then she is finally, truly upended by the handsome, erudite, often cruel Brook—a man who won’t tolerate her attempts to take control.

Nettie Jones is a great writer. Fish Tales reminds me a lot of Corregidora by Gayl Jones in a good way, the writing about 70s Black America, both sharp and frank and brilliant. Fish Tales is a party story, a Gatsby style champagne fuelled tale of opulence, desire, touching on race and sexuality in the process. It’s a fun novel that is pretty fast paced and there is a lot to take in. We meet Lewis Jones in her early years and watch as she is quickly picked up by predatory older men. Further in we see a different side to Jones, a woman unafraid to call a phone number and ask for a couple of male hookers. I think in the present we often don’t imagine women of the 60s and 70s being so unashamed in their pleasures and desires, and Fish Tales makes this a refreshing take.

Formatting wise, I really enjoyed the short chapters. I think that was a perfect device for this novel, being so short with so many characters to meet, the briefness of the chapters allow you to see a snapshot of Jones’s relationships, just the perfect amount to understand the people in her life, how she feels about them and the impact they create.

I love that ‘forgotten’ classics like Fish Tales are being reprinted for the modern reader. This is a loud, look-at-me, understand-me story that should be read by millions of women. For a book written in the 70s it is strikingly current in its themes of sex, drugs, alcohol, and love.

I loved the author’s note at the end, confirming that Nettie Jones had met Gayl Jones – who inspired her to write! I won’t spoil it but I loved understanding Jones’ reasonings for writing Fish Tales and what it means to her.