Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Classic edition) by Winifred Watson

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is about a down-on-her-luck, middle-aged governess who is sent by an employment agency to the wrong address: instead of a household of unruly children, she encounters a glamorous night-club singer named Miss LaFosse. Over a period of twenty-four hours her life is changed - forever. 

Miss Pettigrew has been a Persephone bestseller ever since we first published it in 2000. It came to our attention when a customer, Henrietta Twycross-Martin, brought an ancient, battered copy of it into the bookshop and told us it was her mother's favourite book. 

The Guardian asked: 'Why has it taken more than half a century for this wonderful flight of humour to be rediscovered? Pure Cinderella fantasy farce with beaus, bounders, negligées and nightclubs: Miss Pettigrew's blossoming is a delight to observe.' The Daily Mail liked the book's message – 'that everyone, no matter how poor or prim or neglected, has a second chance to blossom in the world' – while in The Shops India Knight described Miss Pettigrew as 'the sweetest grown-up book in the world and Tracy Chevalier agreed that 'Miss Pettigrew is irresistible, a perfect mix of wistfulness and joy, substance and froth.'

In 2008 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was made into an excellent film starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.

PREFACE BY HENRIETTA TWYCROSS-MARTIN

Series:Persephone Classics
Format:Paperback / softback 256 pages, Black & white illustrations
Publisher:Persephone Books Ltd
Imprint:Persephone Books Ltd
Edition:Revised ed
ISBN:9781906462024
Published:1 Feb 2008
Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Weight:304g