Little Fish

Author(s): Casey Plett

Fiction. | Fiction

Little Fish is the stunning debut novel by the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning story collection A Safe Girl to Love.


It's the dead of winter in Winnipeg and Wendy Reimer, a thirty-year-old trans woman, feels like her life is frozen in place. When her Oma passes away Wendy receives an unexpected phone call from a distant family friend with a startling secret: Wendy's Opa (grandfather) -- a devout Mennonite farmer -- might have been transgender himself. At first she dismisses this revelation, but as Wendy's life grows increasingly volatile, she finds herself aching for the lost pieces of her Opa's truth. Can Wendy unravel the mystery of her grandfather's world and reckon with the culture that both shaped and rejected her? She's determined to try.


Alternately warm-hearted and dark-spirited, desperate and mirthful, Little Fish explores the winter of discontent in the life of one transgender woman as her past and future become irrevocably entwined.


Product Information

Winner 2019 Lambda Awards - Transgender Fiction

"I have never felt as seen, understood, or spoken to as I did when I read Little Fish. Never before in my life. Casey remains one of THE authors to read if you want to understand the interior lives of trans women in this century." --Meredith Russo, author of If I Was Your Girl

"Plett has captured the multitude of emotions and decisions that can overwhelm our lives, from loneliness and self-destruction to the redemptive power of family and self-love." --The Advocate ("Best Books of the Year")

"There is a dark place most novels don't touch. If you've ever been there, maybe you know how exhilarating it can be to read a book like this, a book that captures the darkness so honestly, so accurately, that you can finally begin to let it go. Fearless and messy and oozing with love, Little Fish is a devastating book that I don't ever want to be without." --Zoey Leigh Peterson, author of Next Year, For Sure

"A confident, moving work that reports unflinchingly on the lives of trans women ... Little Fish is a powerful and important debut. Plett has masterfully painted her characters as both deeply complex and relatable." --National Post

Casey Plett is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning short story collection A Safe Girl to Love and co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers. She wrote a column on transitioning for McSweeney's Internet Tendency and her reviews and essays have appeared in such venues as The New York Times ArtsBeat. She is also the publicity and marketing coordinator for the publishing house Biblioasis.   

General Fields

  • : 9781551527208
  • : Arsenal Pulp Press
  • : Arsenal Pulp Press
  • : February 2018
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Casey Plett
  • : Paperback
  • : 1807
  • : English
  • : 813/.6
  • : 320
  • : FA