Winifred E Watson (1906–2002)

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a book with two settings. It's either a charming, frothy Cinderella-esque fantasy where the eponymous character, teetering on the verge of destitution in 1930s London, sees her life transformed over the course of a single day following an accidental encounter with glamorous nightclub singer Delysia; or a brick-to-the-face of antisemitism, xenophobia, and that weird interwar insistence that what a woman really loves is a man who'll shake her, tell her they're an idiot, and insist that "obviously she needs a little physical correction." Oof. The ratio of froth:yuck was such that I was able to get through the book. But while I've heard so many people recommend this as a much-loved comfort read, I don't think I'll be coming back to it.… (more)

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.

I got this just as the film had been announced (although I have still to see it). This is the tale of the Miss Pettigrew, a middle aged spinster who is treated to an experience of how the other half live when she is accidentally sent to apply for a job at the wrong address. She is then adopted by beautiful nightclub singer Miss LaFosse and this book covers the 24 hours after her arrival at the flat.

Miss Pettigrew is somewhat out of her depth, being presented with situations that she has no experience of or able to give advice. However, her silence and stoic behaviour make other people make their own decisions (which should had been made years before had they simply had the nerve).
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Really this book might only deserve 3.5* but it was the perfect pick-me-up after I finished [b:The Complete Maus|15195|The Complete Maus|Art Spiegelman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327354180l/15195._SX50_.jpg|1658562]!

I love Miss Pettigrew - her impoverished gentility is so familiar from Victorian and Edwardian novels & her awareness that her upbringing has made her out of place in the contemporary world is touching. Her adventure into a less constricted world wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't also so moving.

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