Now a major motion picture starring Frances McDormand (Fargo) and Amy Adams (Enchanted)!
“Why has it taken more than half a century for this wonderful flight of humor to be rediscovered?”—Guardian
“The sweetest grown-up book in the world.”—Sunday Times
“Everyone, no matter how poor or prim or neglected, has a second chance to blossom in the world.”—Daily Mail, in reference to Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
A major film released in 2008, Miss Pettigrew Lives for Day is a delightful, funny, lighthearted novel. First published in 1938, it was reissued in the United Kingdom in 2000, complete with thirty-five original illustrations, and has sold over 22,000 copies.
Miss Pettigrew, an approaching-middle-age governess, was accustomed to a household of unruly English children. When her employment agency sends her to the wrong address, her life takes an unexpected turn. The alluring nightclub singer, Delysia LaFosse, becomes her new employer, and Miss Pettigrew encounters a kind of glamour that she had only met before at the movies. Over the course of a single day, both women are changed forever.
adreadne
Posted March 9, 2009
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is an excellent book. It captures the characters and makes the reader feel that they are part of the story. The author gives the reader a sense that even people who are not normally considered brilliant or successful will be able to make a success of their lives. Miss Pettigrew is certainly a character that most readers will realte to and find themselves cheering for her tenacity and bold moves that take advantage of the situation into which she is placed by accident.
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Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 23, 2009
A very delightful read. I saw that the movie was coming out and that it was based on a book, so I got it from the library. I loved both of them. The book was sweet, suspenseful and romantic. I loved the book so much I bought it for my permanent library. I highly recommend it.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.English writer Winifred Watson (1906 - 2002), between 1935 and 1943, brought out six novels. All were pitched to women readers and all but1938's MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY had rural or historical settings. ***
Watson's Miss Guinevere Pettigrew is an underfed governess with no living family or friends. She is in her late 30s or older, not very good with children and if she does not land the job she will interview for today, then off goes Miss to the poor house, "unwept, unhonored and unsung. ***
The London employment agency by mistake sends her off to a gorgeous young unmarried but promiscuous actress/singer named Delysia LaFosse (born Sarah Glubb) whose maid has just left her. Delysia does not know who Guinevere is or why she rang her doorbell one cold November morning. But she implores Miss Pettigrew to help her roust theatrical producer Phil out of her bed and her flat before Nick, who pays the rent, returns a day early from a three week business trip. ***
With unwealthy Delysia LaFosse and her equally love-challenged friend wealthy beauty parlor owner Edythe Dubarry plucky Guinivere Pettigrew proves romance counselor supreme. Over the course of the next 15 hours or so Miss Pettigrew gives Miss LaFosse the backdone to reject seductive Nick and other suitors in favor of Michael, the one man who wants to marry her and let Delysia remain Delysia. Miss Pettigrew also intervenes rather tipsyly at a cocktail party to bring Miss Dubarry happily back into the arms of her own jealous lover. ***
Loaned fashionable clothing of Delysia and with a hair and facial makeover by Edythe -- not to mention her first good food in years and the thrill of being loved and admired by two talented, achieving, much younger women -- Guinevere Pettigrew becomes the toast of the theatre crowd of London. Delysia and Edythe tell all who will listen at an evening reception that Miss Pettigrew is a talented mime who will eclipse all previous stage mimics. At at a night club later in the night, Miss Pettigrew attracts an older, world-weary love of her own. ***
Constantly pinching herself in unbelieving joy over her good fortune, Miss Pettigrew says farewell to the gloomy puritan warnings of her mother and of her clergyman father, finds good in her new self-indulgent, sinning, but good-hearted women friends, and "lives for a day." ***
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY is arch, well-written, satirical, a battleground between conventional and emerging mores and a book worth reading over and over. Decades after it was written it inspired a 2008 motion picture of the same name. -OOO-
Bio_Girl
Posted January 1, 2012
Fun, light and whimsical read. Miss Pettigrew has a day full of movie-like experiences.
A great book for a rainy afternoon!
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Overview
Now a major motion picture starring Frances McDormand (Fargo) and Amy Adams (Enchanted)!
“Why has it taken more than half a century for this wonderful flight of humor to be rediscovered?”—Guardian
“The sweetest grown-up book in the world.”—Sunday Times
“Everyone, no matter how poor or prim or neglected, has a second chance to blossom in the world.”—Daily Mail, in ...