Abstract
Annamarie Jagose’s novel Slow Water (2003) is a work of historical fiction set in nineteenth-century New Zealand and peopled with historical figures, including the disgraced missionary William Yate. Although the tribulations of Mr Yate comprise a relatively minor historical event, a footnote to mainstream history, his story is one that has recently garnered attention. This article analyses Jagose’s novel through a neo-Victorian frame and in terms of its engagement with history, arguing that Slow Water constitutes a rewriting of Yate’s story to highlight a history of sexuality that intersects with a history of settlement and empire.