Pansies (Spires #4)
Prologue
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Prologue
1. Paragraph begins with: When they were together…
Alexis: People who are born in South Shields are actually known as sand dancers. (Geordies are from Newcastle, Mackems come from Sunderland.)
Nobody really knows the exact origin of the phrase. Possibly the least problematic dates back to accounts from the 1850s of the locals dancing in the sand as they rushed to help ships that had run aground. Alternatively, it could be an oblique reference to the history of smuggling in South Shields. Orrr…um. It’s kind of maybe a former racial slur? A large number of people from Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, as well as other Arabic and South Asian countries moved to South Shields during the nineteenth century; erroneously assuming all these people hailed from desert regions, they were referred to as “sand dancers,” although the term is now proudly used by anyone hailing from South Shields.
2. Paragraph begins with: She thought about it a moment.
Alexis: Sheesh, I really did nail my colours to the “an HEA doesn’t have to be marriage” mast a long time ago. Although I do feel it’s important that this rule applies to straight people as well as queer folks.
But I think with Pansies, I specifically wanted a nonmarried heterosexual couple and for the legal implications of that to not go unrecognised; and for a queer couple to choose marriage with the same freedom that Fen’s parents choose not-marriage.