From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Winifred Watson

Start date: March 1, 2018

Finish date: March 31, 2018

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Discussion leader: Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽

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What Members Thought

Feb 25, 2018 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dated-social-attitudes, brain-candy, humor, england, romance

3.75 stars. In this 1938 book, the proper Miss Pettigrew, a 40 year old faded and timid governess who's fallen into desperate poverty, is sent to a new job by her employment agency.

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The address she's given is for a sexy nightclub singer, Miss LaFosse, who's in the throes of Man Troubles: she's juggling two lovers, with a third hopefully waiting in the wings. Miss Pettigrew is scandalized but intrigued. Miss LaFosse begs Miss Pettigrew to help her out:

description

... and somehow Miss Pettigrew rises to the 3.75 stars. In this 1938 book, the proper Miss Pettigrew, a 40 year old faded and timid governess who's fallen into desperate poverty, is sent to a new job by her employment agency.

description

... and somehow Miss Pettigrew rises to the occasion. A friendship starts to form, and one thing leads to another in the most crazy, wonderful day the downtrodden Miss Pettigrew has ever experienced in her life.

In so many ways this novel is delightful, fluffy fun, with a delicious sense of humor. It's wonderful to see Miss Pettigrew start to blossom, Cinderella-like; even a makeover is included in the fun:

Miss Pettigrew, rapt, thrilled, transported, gazed at herself as her dreams had painted her. A lump came into her throat. Her eyes became misty.

‘Guinevere,’ screamed Miss Dubarry in a panic. ‘For God’s sake, control yourself.’

‘Guinevere,’ gasped Miss LaFosse. ‘Control, I implore you. Your make-up. Remember your duty to your make-up.’

Miss Pettigrew made a valiant effort. ‘Most certainly,’ said Miss Pettigrew with dignity. 'England expects!'

Unfortunately, the occasional, casual racism (against Italians in particular - the word "dago" is used) and anti-Semitism (this guy looks like he has Jewish blood! Oh noes!!) left a bad taste in my mouth. I give older books somewhat of a pass on being dated and non-PC, but I'm still shaking my head over the wholehearted embrace of racist ideas by our heroine. (Whether the author agreed with Miss Pettigrew is, I suppose, up for debate. See the thread for discussion.) A lot of readers are able to handwave this kind of thing in an older book, and it's occasional here (maybe 6 or 8 different passages in the book), but be advised. If you're going to be deeply offended by this sort of thing, or by things like a man physically trying to shake some sense into the woman he loves, you should probably give this a hard pass.

Miss Pettigrew, like Valancy in L.M. Montgomery's delightful The Blue Castle, is a dispirited, bullied woman ready to start breaking society's rules. The company Miss Pettigrew starts keeping lives a fast lifestyle, but ultimately the story affirms friendship and old-fashioned values, which I wouldn't have expected initially.

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The Kindle version of this novel (which is far too expensive for an 80 year old novel) does have the original illustrations, which are delightful. On the down side, it really needs another round of copy editing. If you have a choice, get a hard copy. ...more

123 likes · Like · see review

Apr 21, 2011 Hannah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads, comfort-books

Rating Clarification: 3.5 Stars

This is a seriously old fashioned and charming adult fairy tale, and I mean that in the best way. Reading it is much like being transported into one of those classic black and white comedies starring Myrna Loy or Cary Grant; very stylish, slapdash and engaging, but with little substance. I feel that the recent movie adaptation added that much needed substance perfectly, which is why I'll classify the book version of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day much like I do for ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2018 Judy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

After reading and enjoying many Persephone books, I was expecting a lot from their number one bestseller. However, I found myself a bit disappointed, and would have to say for me this is one of their weakest titles out of those I've read.

At the start, a poor, timid, middle-aged governess is sent by an agency to a prospective new job. After she knocks on a stranger's door in London, a series of comic misunderstandings see her being welcomed in by a kindhearted nightclub singer, Miss LaFosse. Wit ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2018 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Fun read! I thought I read this before, but turns out I only saw the movie - which I very much enjoyed!

I can see where this book lent itself well to being a movie, it allowed the fast pace and great characters to stay but tightened up some of the “clunky” scenes and dialogue, like Miss Pettigrew’s conversation with Tony at the cocktail party. That part seemed nonsensical to me; but I think the author captured the timeless portrayal of passionate, youngish Bohemians well - like one of those real ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 21, 2018 Barb in Maryland rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, historical-fiction

Charming, lovely, funny, poignant--what a delight!
Read with the GR Retro Reads group. Originally published in 1938 and a best-seller in its day.
Miss Pettigrew, a spinster of a certain age (she finally admits to 40), a governess by necessity, and definitely down on her luck, is sent by the employment agency(in error) to the apartment of a Miss LaFosse. For Miss Pettigrew, this is a life-changer. Miss Delysia LaFosse is young, glamorous, a night-club singer(!); she also has man problems. Miss Pett ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 30, 2022 Jackie rated it it was amazing

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars; a wonderful read. I see she's written other books but they are not available, sadly. I hope they get reprinted. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2010 Alexandra rated it really liked it

Shelves: own-on-audible, kindle-too-high, made-into-movies, fiction, read-in-2010, deserves-a-better-cover

Miss Pettigrew is part Mary Poppins, part Pygmalion/Cinderella. An enjoyable read with likable characters.

I saw the movie first, not realizing it was based on a book. The movie was one of those rare movies inspired by a book - it actually did justice to the story and was also quite fun.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 09, 2010 Jodi rated it really liked it

Needing copious amounts of reading material for the summer, I decided to become more bold and search out books from the past that were popular. This way the material would be more likely to be clean and (no offense to authors today), but better written. If they are still available today then the books had to be to stand the test of time and whatnot. And I'm so tired of reading trash.

Anyway, I'm finding such wonderful books like Miss Pettigrew. My prudish side was a little scandalized with Miss L ...more

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