From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Winifred Watson

Start date: March 1, 2018

Finish date: March 31, 2018

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽

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Group Read 5th of October 2025 Thalia NON spoilers thread
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What Members Thought

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

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

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:

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... 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.

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... 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

Jul 04, 2020 Tania rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: middlebrow, london, persephone

Sheer, light-hearted, sparkling fun.

Due to a mix up at her employment agency, Miss Pettigrew, a dowdy spinster looking for a position as a governess is sent to the address of an actress and nightclub singer, Miss Lafosse. Miss Lafosse is beautiful, glamorous and a little bit fast. Not a lady, and not the sort Miss Pettigrew has been brought up to associate herself with. she is however friendly, nice and in need of a bit of help to sort out her tangled love-life. Miss Pettigrew decides to give h ...more

35 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2018 Linda Dobinson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourite-classics, modern-classics

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a delightful story that is very much of its day. I absolutely loved it.
It can be described as a Cinderella story though Delysia LaFosse and Edythe Dubarry are reversals of the ugly sisters.
As the title suggests the action takes place over the course of one day. Each chapter covers a few hours so the pace is fast.
Guinevere Pettigrew is a forty year old spinster who had led a drab, malnourished existence as a not-very-good governess. Terrorised by employers and ch ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2018 Elinor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a delightful book. The drab, penniless spinster finally has an opportunity to break free of her colourless life and show her true abilities to people who appreciate them. And she gets a physical makeover as well, transformed into a handsome woman wearing a black velvet dress. What could be more satisfying? This is a true period piece, complete with happy ending. I enjoyed it immensely.

6 likes · Like · see review