Little Fish

Little Fish, a novel by Casey Plett, follows main character Wendy Reimer, a transgender woman living in Winnipeg, Canada, and her group of friends as they struggle through the regular challenges of being in their thirties, as well as the additional struggles that come with being part of one of the most commonly persecuted groups in the world. Little Fish follows both the day to day lives of Wendy and her friends, as well as a family mystery involving Wendy's Opa, which forces Wendy to reconcile the fact that she might not be alone in her family after all.

The novel opens in Winnipeg, where thirty-year-old Wendy is living with friends, trying to make ends meet and find happiness despite what feels like a constant onslaught of problems. Wendy learns that her Opa, or grandfather, a devout Mennonite farmer with whom Wendy has not been in touch for many years, has passed away. Wendy is upset, but her Opa's life and death don't truly capture her attention until she comes across some evidence that her grandfather may have been transgender himself.

Though Wendy is fascinated by the idea that someone close to her may also have struggled with gender dysphoria and transitioning, other problems get in the way of her investigating further. Life in Winnipeg is challenging for Wendy and her friends, who struggle to make ends meet. Constant discrimination, especially by people within the workplace, means that a steady job is hard to come by, and Wendy and her friends are constantly working long hours to pay rent and get by.



In addition to economic insecurity, other issues plague Wendy and her friends. Alcoholism and its aftermath wreak havoc on the friend group, as well as mental health problems and the threat of suicide. Hoping to make some money, some members of the group resort to sex work, only to face the constant threat of violence and the trauma that can come with dealing with testy johns and giving over your physical body for cash.

Despite a multitude of problems, Wendy finds solace among the group of girls she calls her best friends. They are each other’s safety net and community. In scenes in which the girls come together, there is a sense of safety, camaraderie, humor, and dedication to one another. This is Wendy's lifesaver when she becomes the target of violence and struggles to stay afloat.

Wendy, who is constantly threatened, intentionally misgendered, and otherwise harassed, struggles even more with romance, where any hookup can quickly turn life-threatening. One night, she gets drunk and hooks up with a guy she meets at a bar – it is like many hookups before, only this time, Wendy is sexually assaulted. Later, when she is forced to return to sex work to get by, Wendy is traumatized repeatedly by the encounter, terrified of being raped again.



As this goes on, Wendy distracts herself with documents and stories about her Opa, who may or may not have been transgender. Wendy takes it upon herself to solve this mystery as the novel progresses, perhaps to ignore the other elements of her life, but also to find an ancestral connection to the struggles she faces every single day.

Ultimately, the novel is part family history, part transgender mystery, part chronicle of what it is like to live life each day as a transgender woman in modern Canada. Though Wendy does acknowledge the amazing number of advancements that trans people have experienced over the last decade, she also is forced to reconcile the suicide of a transgender friend and other hardships. It is not a simple story, but rather a messy tale about what it means to live as a trans woman in the western world.

Casey Plett was born in Winnipeg, Canada, where she still lives and works. She is the author of Little Fish, her first novel, and a debut short story collection, A Safe Girl to Love. She also edited an anthology of transgender science fiction and fantasy called Meanwhile, Elsewhere. She wrote a column about transitioning for McSweeneys and has been published in The New York Times, and other outlets.