Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

such a lovely book! atmospheric and joyful, i've enjoyed it very much

If you are a fan of mid-to-late-1930s screwball comedies like “My Man Godfrey,” early Ginger Roger's & Fred Astaire musicals, or even “The Thin Man” series, this book will be up your alley. People are constantly popping in, grabbing a drink, and popping out in an alcoholic haze after a few bon mots.

To our modern eyes, the casually racist remarks thrown about are hard to read. However, that is how people of both Miss Pettigrew's and Miss LaFosse's set spoke at the time. That doesn't mean that the book isn't worth reading, but it may completely turn off some readers.

Although Miss Pettigrew is 40, this is her coming-of-age/Cinderella story, where she realizes she's more than a stack of platitudes and mildly ineffectual skills as a governess enmeshed in the brown drab of a spinster. All of that wrapped in the confusion and excitement-filled life of Delysia LaFosse and her cavalcade of suitors. It's a fun ride!

Such a delightful read. Heartwarming and funny

What a sweet, delightful little novel! I spent so much time just saying “awwww”. 

All throughout reading this book, I found myself smiling.

This book was published in 1938 and tells the tale of Miss Pettigrew, a failing governess who's life thus far has been quiet, polite and “ladylike”, but, as the title gives away, this day, she lives.

I've never before read a book that I've non-stop smiled whilst reading.

I found myself falling quickly in love with Miss Pettigrew and wanting her to have all the kindness she deserved.

A perfect guilty pleasure read. This book has a fairytale structure. It has drama. It has debauchery. It has romance. It is an absolute pleasure to read and it is a book that can be devoured in one sitting and like a particularly good glass of red wine or a sumptuous cream cake can make you want to sigh with satisfaction. Some parts of the book certainly reflect the time period it was written in (a pre war London) but the juicy scandalous lives of the liberated women Miss Durbarry and Miss LaFosse's make this book so compelling and indulgent. A fantastic book. The original and superior first ever rom/chick lit style book. I loved it and I think you will be hard pressed to disagree with me!

Just perfection. My face hurt from smiling. :-)

Did this one as an audiobook - read by Francis McDormand. I like her as an actress - but wouldn't do audiobook with her reading.
But getting away from that - would have to say this is one of the few books where I thought the movie was better. In this instance - probably due to the era in which the book was written...some things are dated in a not so charming way.

Yeah, so I picked this up from the library around 7pm and finished reading it at 11:30pm. A much-needed break from this last stretch of schoolwork for the year. Poor Miss Pettigrew is yanked from one end of the (figurative) seesaw to the other a few too many times, but it was light and fun and sweet and warmhearted. (I do have to note the few moments of shame for comments that were socially acceptable at the time but are no longer.) And yes, now I can watch the movie.

Loved, loved, loved this book. Miss Pettigrew is middle-aged, a spinster, and having trouble finding a new position as a nanny. She has never really been successful in her profession. She's dowdy and has no friends and no suitors. Her life is about as grim as life can get. Then she is inadvertently sent by her employment agency to the wrong house where she meets a nightclub singer. Her whole life is about to change.