Winifred Watson •
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day •

I love books that make me smile, that buoy up my spirits, that hint at thrilling possibilities. This novel does all three.

Miss Pettigrew isn’t just down on her luck. She’s penniless, hungry, and desperate, with nowhere to turn for help. “There was no personal friend or relation in the whole world who knew or cared whether Miss Pettigrew was alive or dead.” Before ringing the bell of a potential employer, she tacks on a “rider” to her silent prayer: “It’s my last chance. You know it. I know it.”

Then the door is opened by a creature so radiantly lovely she takes Miss Pettigrew’s breath away. Stepping inside, the timid, mousy daughter of a curate is plunged headlong into a world she has hitherto glimpsed only at the moving pictures: glamorous women, dashing men, opulent surroundings, sinful habits. The repartee sparkles; the champagne flows. Penury and want recede into the distance. “From this one day, dropped out of the blue into her lap, she was going to savour everything it offered her.”

And when the improbably named Delysia LaFosse begs for her help, Miss Pettigrew more than rises to the challenge, summoning talents she hadn’t known she possessed. At one stroke she becomes a canny, resourceful watchdog and conspirator—and the answer to someone else’s prayer into the bargain. “She felt grand. She felt brimming with authority and assurance. It was a marvelous sensation.”

In this frothy fairy tale, the meek don’t just inherit the earth. They—in the person of Miss P—win the whole damn jackpot, complete with lavish meals, soft furs, and a bespoke suitor who, miraculously, prefers the warmth of wool to the sheen of silk.

Of the six novels Winifred Watson wrote, Miss Pettigrew remained her firm favorite. It’s easy to see why.