Product Description

This is a deliciously entertaining Cinderella story for grown-ups. Over sixty years after her first appearance in 1938, Miss Pettigrew is still a delight, and is now charming a new circle of twenty-first century readers. It has been reprinted by Persephone Books in a facsimile edition, which includes the glorious original line drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #752 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-24
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Synopsis
'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 to be released in 2008 and starring Frances McDormand, "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 glamor that she had only met before at the movies. Over the course of a single day, both women are changed forever.

Winifred Watson (1907-2002) grew up in Newcastle, and was a secretary until, in 1935, she married Leslie Pickering, the manager of a timber firm. She wrote six novels in all, but after the birth of her son in 1941 she stopped writing and lived quietly in Newcastle for the rest of her life.

Customer Reviews

Lovely novel
I thought this was a lovely novel. Miss Pettigrew's character and history is painted in a series of beautifully written vignettes over the course of one day. On the most superficial level it's a great fairytale, with delightful contemporary detail - the froth of the lace on the negligee, the sharpness of the finely crafted moustache. But under the surface there is great characterisation, a poignant reflection of the position of women in 30s society, and some lessons in a new morality which doesn't judge people for what they are (eg married or not married), but for their actions. Definitely on my read-again list.

Wonderful book, beautifully crafted and reproduced
This is a beautifully crafted book. Many reviewers have talked about the story itself - which is so wonderful that I have given it as a present to most of my friends and forced others to sit and read it during lunch. But on top of that, Persephone Books are craftsmen (-people) of the first order. No cheap and nasty 'perfect' binding for their works! The books are bound to last and come with slip-covers. Even dropping them in the bath can't hurt them.

Delightful
I'd never heard of this book but read a film was being made of it, so thought I'd give it a try. What a treat! Of course it is very dated but still immensely readable. The transformation of Miss Pettigrew's dowdy life, and her delighted incredulity at what is happening her, just sweeps you along. A really charming 1930s fairytale.