"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" by Winifred Watson (Persephone Books,
9781906462024, $18.00)
Let me introduce the wonderful Miss Guinevere Pettigrew. She's a dowdy
governess by trade, but at heart, she's a no-nonsense general in love's
indomitable army. In this world where it can often be a struggle to tell
gold from gilt and separate the jewels from the paste, let me assure you:
she is a gem.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a lovely comic novel that will delight
fans of Jane Austen and
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
(It's the basis for the recent movie, which is a charmer for sure--but the
book is five times better!) First published in 1938, this novel finds Miss P.
at her lowest. She's lost her latest posting; she's wearing ugly shoes; she
has nary a prospect left. Her last chance is a new job serving as governess
to the children of Miss Delysia Lafosse, a cabaret singer.
From the moment Miss Pettigrew arrives at Delysia's opulent London flat,
she's pulled into a whirlwind of action: cooking breakfast, mixing drinks,
chasing multiple suitors out the door. Her employer quickly declares her to
be indispensable and sets her the task of sorting out her ridiculously
tangled love life. It's the sort of work that the loveless Miss Pettigrew
has never had to perform for herself, and she finds she quite enjoys it!
There may be no one in all of England better suited to the job.
Over the course of the day (and the evening, and the late, late night) Miss
Pettigrew---minister's daughter--enjoys her first cocktail party, her first
night-club visit, first waltz in a very long time, and she makes the first
friends she's found in ages. Together they go "roaring through the lighted
streets" righting love's wrongs and making a grand time of it. "She had
never been so wicked in her life," she thinks, "and she had never been so
happy."
To read "Miss Pettigrew" is to spend several enjoyable hours feeling that
the world is a loving, forgiving place. It's a flute of champagne after a
good, filling tea-time meal. It's a lark and a spree and a little bit of
literary therapy. Give this book to your best friend or to your favorite
Valentine to help her through that grey, fuzzy day when sun is in short
supply. She will thank you for it.
This is your electronically engraved invitation. Introductions have been
made. Now come meet Miss P. and learn to live a little. I promise you:
you'll be fast friends for years.
Review by
Mark David Bradshaw, February 5, 2009
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