Monday, August 23, 2010

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson - Book Review #72

Monday, August 23, 2010
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
by Winifred Watson

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.
From goodreads.com

What a farce! What a charm! What a fun! If I might compare some books to opera, this one is operetta. This is vaudeville.

My god, Winifred Watson was a great and talented writer. The dialogs in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day are one of the best I’ve ever read. The plot might be simple and reminds Cinderella, but it is still amazing and original. Not every time something complicated is better than something light and simple.

Through the whole day in which the story is set – through the whole novel – Miss LaFosse keeps repeating how amazing and great Miss Pettigrew is. I would have to go even further and say that she is unforgettable and outstanding. I dearly love characters that say: “The hell with everything else! I’m diving into this new adventure! I’m getting into this crazy and impossible situation!” And this is precisely how Miss Pettigrew acted. No, she never was temerarious or reckless. This is just an opportunity presented itself and Miss Pettigrew went with it, without looking back.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a great story about second chances and about new beginnings. This is the story that states that it is never too late - never too late to live, never too late to love, never too late to laugh. This is the story that encourages you to take a leap of faith, to try something new, or just to relax for a moment and let events develop without you interfering.

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