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jazzy_daveWinifred Watson "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" (Persephone Classics)
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 delight to yuck was such that I was just able to get through the book without throwing it away entire;y. 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. In fact, dear reader, avoid it.
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 delight to yuck was such that I was just able to get through the book without throwing it away entire;y. 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. In fact, dear reader, avoid it.
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