Anne De Courcy’s THE FISHING FLEET will be no 8 in the UK Paperback charts this weekend. It was published in paperback last week by Orion, and already rocketed its way to 8th position.
THE FISHING FLEET tells the story of the late nineteenth century in India where Britain's finest and brightest men settled to become businessmen, administrators and soldiers. Young women flocked to the area for intense socializing and found themselves caught up in a whirlwind of dances, parties and marriages. After the honeymoon things often changed drastically for these husband hunting women.
De Courcy's narrative and first hand resources, in the form of unpublished letters and diaries, make for a delightful read.
Film rights have been sold to Ridley Scott’s production company.
Praise for THE FISHING FLEET:
'An entertaining, richly detailed account of a world that vanished overnight in 1947 with independence' -- The Sunday Times
'Highly evocative... de Courcy takes the reader through an enchanted world: scarlet coats and white topis; the heat of a regimental dance with buildings picked out in tiny oil lamps and lanterns hung in the trees;… am-dram and tiger shoots; medicinal brandy and ginger ale; tiffin and sword exercises; the smell of wood fires in the hearth; a civet cat found drinking a bedtime glass of milk and a monkey snatching a silver spoon.' -- Jad Adams, The Guardian
'Through heat, dust, lust and wedlock, de Courcy's memsahibs step a lively dance' -- Saga Magazine
'A seasoned social historian, Anne de Courcy brilliantly evokes the era, often by allowing her heroines to do the talking. We hear vivid contemporary descriptions of everything from tiger hunts and tea dances to the agonies of prickly heat... the women who married into the Raj were true adventurers. De Courcy's book restores their proper reputation: as brave, sometimes batty, irredeemably British heroines' -- Jemima Lews, Daily Mail