{"id":942,"date":"2018-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T20:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/?p=942"},"modified":"2025-05-03T13:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T01:52:04","slug":"gone-to-pegasus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2018\/08\/02\/gone-to-pegasus\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone to Pegasus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tess Redgrave<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

M\u0101karo Press<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Otago Daily Times, August 2nd 2018<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although a combination of globalisation publishing houses and a flourishing market for self-published works has enabled authors from smaller countries to reach an international audience, the need to appeal to a global marketplace tends to favour cosmopolitan stories and settings over more regionally specific writing. Thus, it is left to small, independent publishers to champion new, local voices. Wellington-based M\u0101karo Press focuses on NZ fiction, poetry and children\u2019s books and, through its Submarine imprint, bridging the gap between traditional and self-publication with the writer contributing towards publication costs in return for editorial and marketing assistance. If journalist Tess Redgrave\u2019s debut novel is anything to go by, they are onto a winning combination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in 1890\u2019s Dunedin at the height of the suffrage movement, Gone to Pegasus <\/em>is a quietly beautiful story of female friendship and independence. On the face of it the novel\u2019s protagonists have little in common other than the need for companionship. The exotic and extroverted Grace Coles is in conflict with her husband over almost every aspect of their life together, while the conservative and emotionally reserved Eva McAlester is struggling with shame and guilt over her husband William\u2019s committal to Seacliff Lunatic Asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an attempt to find her own way while William is gone, Eva advertises her services as a piano teacher and is surprised when Grace appears on her doorstep offering to pay for private recitals. She reluctantly agrees and is surprised to discover that the other woman\u2019s presence enables her to achieve an emotional engagement with the music (and with William) that has previously eluded her, while Grace finds space in the music to re-examine her childhood and the choices that have led her here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not just in the emotional sphere that the friendship changes them. One of the most contentious matters in Grace\u2019s marriage is women\u2019s right to representation; she is a vocal advocate for both the female vote and the separation of the suffrage and temperance movements, while her husband has tied his political aspirations to its opposition. These are issues that Eva has never considered, but since William\u2019s designation as a lunatic disqualifies him from voting, she sees it as her duty to join the fight in order to ensure that somebody can speak for their household. And the love that Grace feels for Eva helps her to decide to be true to the person she really is rather than the one she has tried to become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Redgrave successfully captures both the public stereotype of the suffragette movement and the equally important but much less visible face of those whose quiet support for the were critical for its eventual success, what I enjoyed most was the instant recognition of the people and places she describes. After years of reading historical fiction steeped in London streets and monuments I think I finally understand the attraction of the genre and I look forward to whatever she and M\u0101karo Press have to offer next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.odt.co.nz\/entertainment\/books\/madness-and-suffrage-dunedin%E2%80%99s-streets<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tess Redgrave
\n
\nOtago Daily Times review August 2nd 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[278,370,421,500,18,284],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-278","tag-fiction","tag-historical","tag-nz-author","tag-odt","tag-tess-redgrave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2001,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/2001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}