A Kettle of Fish

Contemporary Women’s Fiction

 Ailsa has never understood why her father left home, but at eighteen she has other things to think about. And top priority is making out with the local fishmonger …

 Ailsa is eighteen but saddled with looking after her mother, Lorraine, who suffers from some kind of illness no doctor can put a name to. To make matters worse, Lorraine has appropriated the front room for the unsavoury business of removing unwanted hair. Then there’s the stigma of  Ailsa’s Dad Tom, who left home years ago for reasons Ailsa has never understood, mainly because Lorraine refuses to tell her.

Ailsa needs a passport to freedom and her first choice is Ian, son of a local fishmonger. He is happy to assist Ailsa in her quest to lose her virginity and to take her to her favourite sea-side haunts. Even when she learns the truth about her Dad, Ailsa feels safe with him. But after one trip too many down memory lane, disturbing connections come to light. Ian blots his copy book and Ailsa looks around: man-about-town Andy is easy on the eye, but knows way too much about Ailsa’s family; photography student Danny is already spoken for – by Ailsa’s best friend. That leaves Shane. He’s far too old and the job he’s offering is unlikely to end at five o-clock, but now that Ailsa has cut the strings that bound her to Lorraine, where else is she going to find a bed for the night?

 A Kettle of Fish  moves from the towns and fishing ports of East Fife to the fringes of the Edinburgh art world, where Ailsa casts her net for the truth about Tom only to land stories that get fishier all the time.

 Image credit: A Fine Kettle of Fish  linocut is by Deborah Kay, an Australian artist and is reproduced here  with her expresss permission. All rights reserved.