Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up: Lessons in Love and Surmounting Grief
Grosvenor House Publishing Limited, 2024
This book is about surviving grief, and charts a journey of exceptional love. Now, aged 77, the burden of ambition has left the author and she has, with the help of close confidantes, reconfigured her life.
Petal Ashmole Winstanley grew up in Perth, Western Australia with two great loves: her mother and classical ballet. Spurred on by her natural talent and ambition to dance, she made the voyage on the SS Canberra to London in the swinging ‘60s—the start of a vibrant career encompassing the glamour, global travel and trials and tribulations of a life on the stage.
Her journey has been one of creative fulfilment often offset by deep sadness and loss: that of a longed-for baby, and the ultimate grief of losing three husbands. Petal speaks with gut-wrenching honesty of the brutal circumstances leading to each of their deaths, and the heartbreaking aftermath of a grief that would not ease. Repeated hospice experiences allow her to share an intimate knowledge of what happens before, during and after death—and have made her an advocate for early AIDS and cancer detection, and a fierce believer in Dignity in Dying. Sometimes shocking but frequently funny, her story of sorrow is peppered with optimism as Petal recounts how, even at the gates of hell, she found the strength to get up, dress up and show up, sporting a dash of red lipstick.
Cover photo: Lynne Wake
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‘This book is a cathartic read not only for ballet lovers worldwide, but for anyone who has experienced the pain of having loved and lost a partner. It is a tribute to the strength, fortitude, courage and capacity for reciprocity in love of its author. And her indomitable spirit is an inspiration to struggling artists to never to give up.’ – Emeritus Professor Marin Comte OAM
Read his full review.
’Both the subject matter and its treatment make this a remarkable book that is hard to put down once you start reading.’ – Blazenka Brysha, Amazon reviewer
Read her full review.
REVIEWS
Read ‘An outpouring of love and grief’, Dance Australia’s profile of Petal and her memoir.
‘Leaps and Bounds’ – read the feature on Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up in Syndey Weekend, magazine of the The Daily Telegraph.
Catch up on Ballet Piano Podcast in conversation with Petal.
Listen back to Petal discussing her book with Robert Elms on BBC Radio London.
’Dancing Through Joy and Pain’ – Holloway Express speaks to Petal about her life and work.
IN THE PRESS
IN THE AUTHOR’S WORDS
DEDICATIONS
This book is dedicated to Maggie’s – a safe haven for me as my world fell apart – and also to Michael, David and Simon. This is for you.