Miss Pettigrew and the Glitterati...
Like almost everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am a great admirer of the actress Frances McDormand and I think she may excel as Miss Pettigrew if the screen adaptation lives up to the speed and panache of the original story. Yes, ... the original story ... It is definitely of the Cindrella variety and none the worse for that. Some have seen the influence of others in its origins - but none has yet pointed out the faint echoes of a memorable short story by W.S. Maugham about the unexpected London triumph, both social and sartorial, of a mature widow called "Jane". Now I don't exactly remember the date of Somerset Maugham's story (it may have been written before Miss Watson's or afterwards) and so one may have influenced the other to a degree. As to the dialogue, "sparkling" is the word - although the occasional anti-semitisms and xenophobia still come as a bit of a shock in these PC times. That being said, a glorious read. I shall try to obtain the other works by this strangely neglected author.
What a difference a day makes . . .
Miss Pettigrew must find a job. She is a governess - but not a very successful one as she says herself. She is directed to the address of Miss LaFosse and inadvertantly gets involved in her life and loves. The people she is introduced to - Delysia LaFosse's young men - and her professional life - she is a night club singer - changes Guinevere Pettigrew's life for ever. Touching and funny this Cinderella tale shows how chance met people can have an irrevocable effect on each other. The dialogue sparkles and Miss Pettigrew's thoughts illuminate the difference between the two life styles. The story as it unfolds also shows how you think of yourself plays a big part in how others see you, and that very small changes to your appearance can have a huge effect. I am sure it will make a brilliant film which will make Miss Pettigrew's brand of wisdom available to a wider audience.
a Spiffing good read!
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Persephone Classics)
I read this after reading about the author and the book in a sunday supplement. Thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it - an uplifting read with the good feel good factor that makes you feel pleasantly pleased after reading it - which you will do quickly as it is hard to put down. I recommend it to everyone! What a shame the author never done a sequel
Charming
Miss Pettigrew lives for a day is a wonderful, frothy confection of a story. It is really a novel I suppose but it feels like a story. It has that lightness of touch and when you read it, it really is escapism and so easy to read it keeps that classic, old fashioned, story like quality throughout.
Miss Pettigrew is a humble spinster, scraping a living as a governess and counting the time until she is unemployable and ready for the workhouse. Her life is bleak and dreary until she is sent along in error to the house of a Miss LaFosse, and instead of babysitting two small children she ends up unwittingly and brilliantly sorting out the tangled love life of a distressed nightclub singer.
During the course of the book she blossoms and discovers in herself a taste for frivolity and enjoyment that she never knew she had. This is romantic, funny, tender and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
It reminded me at times of the works of Stella Gibbons and Nancy Mitford, both of whom I love, but this is more charming and innocent and doesn't have quite that air of edginess that they do. I loved it.
An utterly lovely Cinderella story
A delightfully frothy and heartwarming fairy tale following a day in the life of Miss Pettigrew - a forty year old spinster governess who's never been kissed.
She goes for a job interview but before she can speak gets drawn in to defuse a situation to get rid of her client's lover before another one arrives. After that, Delysia LaFosse adopts Miss Pettigrew as if she were an old family friend and Guinevere gets to see how the other half live for a day - and what a day it is!
A genuine twentieth century classic revived by the ground-breaking Persephone books, the entire novel is a joy. From the gorgeous jazz-age line drawings throughout, to the feel of the quality paper, every page of this heady confection is a pleasure to read.
