“What a difference a day made/ Twenty-four little hours….”
Miss Pettigrew is a frumpy, middle-aged governess, living a drab and dreary existence, until the day her employment agency accidentally sends her to the wrong address, and she finds her life taking an unexpected, but not unwelcome, turn. Miss Pettigrew finds herself at the home of a glamorous night-club singer, Miss Delysia LaFosse, instead of a house full of spoiled, disobedient children. To Miss Pettigrew’s dismay, she stumbles into the middle of Delysia’s tangled love life, but with her blend of common sense and imagination, Miss Pettigrew quickly proves herself indispensable to her new employer.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day follows our eponymous heroine over the course of twenty-four hours as she discovers a whole new world of late nights, jazz clubs, and merriment, a world inhabited by theater producers, night club owners, musicians, and women who dress like movie stars. Miss Pettigrew is “flattered, bewildered, excited” by Delysia’s unexpected kindnesses, and fascinated by her sophisticated and stylish friends. As Miss Pettigrew helps Delysia untangle her love life, relishing the chance to be needed, she blossoms and even finds a little romance of her own along the way.
Miss Pettigrew felt the most glorious, exhilarating sensation of excitement she had ever experienced. ‘This,’ thought Miss Pettigrew, ‘is Life. I have never lived before.’”
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was written in 1938 and is very much a product of its time, and is worth reading for that fact alone. The novel is a wonderful piece of escapism. The pace is swift and the novel races from one ridiculous situation to another. From the very first paragraph, which begins at 9:15 a.m, the reader is thrown into the action. Miss Pettigrew is compassionate and highly sympathetic, and you cannot help but warm to Delysia, who, despite being something of a ditz, is both kindhearted and generous.
This is a delightfully charming, humorous, and exuberant novel about the joys of living, and enjoying yourself. The book is a sweet, Cinderella-tale for grown-ups; a blend of adventure, romance and unadulterated joy. But although the book is lighthearted, it isn’t completely frivolous. It is wonderful to see Miss Pettigrew open up and grow in confidence, becoming bolder, funnier, and finally embracing the self she has kept hidden for so many years.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was made into a film in 2008, starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, which led to a very successful reissue of the novel, complete with its original pen and ink illustrations. If you enjoyed the film, then I strongly recommend you read the original.
Check the WRL catalog for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
I’ve been wanting to read this for ages but never seem to be able to find it when browsing bookshops. Well, no more, I’ve added it to my reading list (I have a word document these days…) and I will ask my local bookshop to get it in for me.
Siobhan – you should have no trouble tracking this book down now, since the library has just recently added it to the collection.
[…] Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was written in 1938 and is very much a product of its time, and is worth reading for that fact alone. The novel is a wonderful piece of escapism. The pace is swift and the novel races from one ridiculous situation to another. From the very first paragraph, which begins at 9:15 a.m, the reader is thrown into the action. Miss Pettigrew is compassionate and highly sympathetic, and you cannot help but warm to Delysia, who, despite being something of a ditz, is both kindhearted and generous. bfgb […]
I adored this little book! There is something about the language of its era which I find very appealing. The film is lovely too (and I saw it first), but deviates quite a lot from the book. I think each stands alone nicely, and for once I didn’t feel violated by this variance.