A review by sarahmatthews
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

lighthearted fast-paced

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

Read as ebook, partly in Braille and partly as TTS

Persephone Books

Pub. 1938, 234pp

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I’ve seen this book referred to with great affection by readers over the years and finally got round to reading it, and what a wonderful novel!

It’s set over one day, opening with Miss Pettigrew, a middle aged governess, reporting to an employment agency as she’s in desperate need of a new post in order to avoid the workhouse, having recently been threatened with eviction by her landlady. She’s sent to a smart part of London, to Miss LaFosse, who opens the door finally after 10 minutes in her dressing gown, becoming very flustered once she realises the time. Miss Pettigrew is then thrown into a tricky situation as there’s a young man, Phil, in the house who Miss LaFosse wants to get rid of and Miss Pettigrew steps up to help, surprising herself with her effectiveness. Everything happens so quickly that Miss Pettigrew can’t get a word in to ask about the job she’s come to interview for. As soon as she manages to get Phil out of the door the doorbell rings again and another man,Nick, enters and Miss LaFosse turns to Miss Pettigrew for assistance again.

The day continues in this fashion, with Miss Pettigrew being faced with situations she’s never before dreamed of being involved in; the social circle Miss LaFosse is part of being like something she’s only ever witnessed in the cinema.

Here she is, putting off talking to Miss LaFosse about the job a little longer:

“‘Surely I can have three more minutes of being happy.’

She prayed desperately for a knock on the door.A knock on Miss LaFosse’s door heralded adventure. It was not like an ordinary house, when the knocker would be the butcher, or baker or candlestick maker. A knock on Miss LaFosse’s door would mean excitement, drama, a new crisis to be dealt with. Oh, if only for once the Lord would be good and cause some miracle to happen to keep her here, to see for one day how life could be lived, so that for all the rest of her dull, uneventful days when things grew bad, she could look back in her mind and dwell on the time when for one perfect day she, Miss Pettigrew, lived.”    

This is a truly delightful fairytale-likestory that zips along, full of entertaining scenes,misunderstandings, and a lot of humour.

Miss Pettigrew is astounded that glamorous actress/singer Miss LaFosse is instantly her friend, believing in her like no one has ever done before! As the story progresses she starts to recognise she’s more capable and adaptable than she thought and relaxes her rigid beliefs, learnt from her moralistic upbringing. It’s a book that does reflect the time it was written in though so be aware there’s some outdated language and views expressed by characters.

I found this a very fun comfort read that I’d recommend to everyone, it’s perfect to lift you out of a reading slump or to accompany you on holiday.