Product Description

'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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2334 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
WINIFRED WATSON was brought up in Newcastle, where her father owned three shops. Educated at St Ronan's School, Berwick-on-Tweed, she was a secretary until, in 1935, aged 28, she married Leslie Pickering, the manager of a timber firm. She wrote Fell Top in 1935 and Odd Shoes a year later, 'two rather strong dramas...but when they received a book that was fun - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day [1938] - they would not accept it...I can remember to this day looking up at the publisher and saying, "You are wrong, Miss Pettigrew is a winner." But he just looked stubborn. I wrote another straight novel [Upyonder, 1938] and, when they did publish Miss Pettigrew, I was proved right... France published it, Australia, and even Germany was about to only the war came.' Winifred Watson published two more novels, but stopped writing not long after the birth of her son in 1941. She lived in Newcastle for the rest of her life and died there in 2002.

Customer Reviews

Champagne for Guinevere
This gorgeous fairytale is the perfect book to pick up when you've had a bad day at work, and you feel a cold coming on (as I did). Guinevere Pettigrew's adventures with Miss LaFosse make sparkling reading. Miss Pettigrew is sent to the wrong address by her employment agency (she works as a nanny). Instead of a household of fractious children, she finds a glamourous young woman of slightly dubious morals, with a number of pressing problems, from cocaine in the bathroom to a jealous lover. Miss Pettigrew solves everything, using nothing more forceful than common sense and an ability to distinguish between right and wrong. This beautifully produced edition of the novel (first published in 1938) is enhanced by Persephone's excellent choice of endpapers and the original line drawings throughout the text. You won't be disappointed by this magical story.

Cinders you shall go to the ball!
If there is anyone who can put this book down once they have started reading it, I shall be surprised. It is a true Cinderella story of a down trodden spinster who is facing a frightening old age with no family and living by her own meagre earnings. Then one day a fairy godmother in the unlikely guise of Miss DeFoss, a nightclub singer, appears when Miss Pettigrew knocks on her door is mistaken for somebody else. The day transforms her life. This book is funny, witty, enchanting and totally captivating and illustrated by sharp black and white drawings. Persephone continues to surprise and delight with their continuing discovery of wondrous works like this. Read and enjoy!

Fabulous, uplifting - I read it all in one sitting!
What a wonderful book. Even from unwrapping it, the cover is absolutely right, it is a book I shall enjoy looking at! The actual text is fascinating, even down to the preface. I literally could not put it down as within the first chapter I became enthralled by the characters.