"Pegasus to Paradise" by Michael Tappenden

 A fictionalised memoir of the author's parents. Ted Tappenden was the radio operator who sent the 'Ham and Jam' message reporting the capture of the bridges outside Caen in the 'Pegasus' operation, the first in the allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. Like many men after the war, he suffered from his memories. Florrie, his wife, was a feisty individual who probably suffered from bipolar syndrome. Much of the book is taken up with the strains imposed on the marriage by these two psychologically damaged individuals.

The trouble with memoirs is that they deal with what happened and struggle to conform to the conventions of a novel; for example, the pacing may be uneven and the cast of characters may become unwieldy.  But in this book the author has selected incidents which enable the characters to develop in all their real-life complexity. There are some wonderfully detailed descriptions - a strength of the author - which both add depth and advance the story. And, of course, there is incredible verisimilitude.

All of human life seems to be here. Not only is there the thrilling wartime exploits of Ted but also the frustrations of peacetime. Florrie gets involved in cub scouts, in charity concerts and in an allotment. There is the difficulty of communication between two people even when they are deeply in love. There is a wedding and a funeral, and the slow, sad decline into old age that those of us who do not die too early must face. All is told with love and respect. And, often, humour.

It reminded me of Patrick Gale's Notes From an Exhibition.

Selected quotes:

• "She had fled with her family from the poverty and hopelessness of County Cork for the poverty and possibilities of the East End of London." (C 1)
• "The brown ribbon of road that struggled upwards and sped downwards." (C 1)
• "Pitch-black pain from somewhere so deep, poured out of him." (C 4)
• "in the mirror, she could still see Scarlett O’Hara. Unfortunately, Cyril frankly didn’t seem to give a damn." (C 6)
• "Challenge strode there defiant, knuckle-dustered and dangerous. A swaggering sip of things to come, saturated in a crazy palette of colour like a degenerate peacock." (C 6)
• "It was that time when the day had slowed down its urgency and yawned and stretched before being covered by night." (C 8)
• "Even more alarming was the knowledge that the centre forward was known to have the unusual ability of being able to kick the ball in the direction that he intended." (C 9)
• "Not being normal was such bloody hard work." (C 10)
• "At the window, the spider moved quickly from the shadowy corner to the centre of its web and started to bind a hapless fly." (C 10)
• "‘Come on now Patrick Kellagher. Get down on yer knees an tank God dat you’re still on yer feet.’" (C 10)
• "The stage so full of drama now seemed very empty. Just shadows where the players had been; applause, an uncertain echo." (C 10)
• "Now she looked around her garden. Where were her gleaming jewels? Her wonder? Who had switched off the blazing light and crunched her world into a small, terraced back garden?" (C 11)
• "The mad confusion of plants and hotchpotch collection of figures before her, she had wanted to represent a sanctuary; a place of freedom and choice. Now, she saw they were none of those things. Now, in horror, she saw a heaving mass of tormented vegetation: some strong, some weak; some throttling; some suffocating silently, and some pale with approaching death, but all struggling for survival." (C 11)
• "In front of the plants, stood her figures: plastic, cement and plaster, mute, staring, imprisoned. She had ignored their ugliness, their kitsch-ness, their garish coats and their shocking disfigurements, and had offered them a refuge. But she hadn’t understood, she’d been selfish. They had stood there mutely, frozen by ice, faded by the sun, displaying their disabilities for all to see, to be mocked and scoffed at, to suffer everlasting pain, just to satisfy Florrie. And why did they all seem to have Ted’s face?" (C 11)
• "It was like standing in front of a fridge full of tears." (C 11)
• "Stiff upper lips were notoriously difficult to treat." (C 12)
• "The old people applauded slowly, as if it was an effort. As if they were now running out of applause, running out of everything." (C 13)
• "Maybe he carried the Bible just in case there really was a God. But he’d seen no sign of him." (C 14)
• "The odour of old people hung in the air." (C 17)
• "A number of elderly people sat slumped in plump armchairs that almost enveloped them. They might have been small children sitting on adult’s chairs, except that a small child would be bursting full of tomorrow, and these people were in danger of disappearing forever down the gap between the seat and the back." (C 18)
• "It was a silent drive to the cemetery. Inside the car, the air was thick with thoughts that even the open window could not whisk away." (C 19)

A beautifully written family saga.

Michael Tappenden has also written A Long Dark Rainbow.

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God