Book: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

Loved, loved, LOVED this sweet little charmer!

Totally in the spirit of Enchanted April, this 1930s Cinderella tale is wonderful start to finish. If you saw the recent movie, you’ll know how absolutely sweet-spirited the story is. I loved the movie and the book was even better.

Miss Pettigrew is a down-on-her-luck governess, applying for a job that she desperately needs. Nearly homeless, partially starved, completely dispirited, when she encounters the dazzling effervescent Delysia Lafosse she is completely swept off her feet by this breathless beauty who pulls her pell-mell into her lively sparkling world of champagne, fast women, flirtatious men and nightclubs. Miss Pettigrew, a genteel English lady (albeit of the shabby sort), is at first scandalized by Delysia’s lifestyle and friends, but soon discovers a heretofore undiscovered penchant for a little too much sherry, lighthearted kisses and crazy interpersonal drama. She is swept into Delysia’s world completely, and her one day of seeing how the other half lives changes her inside out, and all for the better (if a wee bit wicked).

Although Miss Pettigrew knows she is operating under false pretenses (where are these children she is supposed to be governing?), she can’t help but blossom under the influence of the flighty birds all around her. Her transformation is so much fun to watch. All of the supporting characters are just as fun and entertaining, and the entire book is such a delightful confection (no really, you want to start talking like that after reading this).

I heart this book so much. I read it in two nights, but could easily have read it in one day. I wanted to tear through it, confident that nothing terrible would happen, that I would be charmed and delighted the entire way through, and such a satisfying happy ending. And so it was. Definitely something to read when you are feeling a bit down and need some lighthearted glamorous fantasy. I loved it completely.