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📖 'Rather Dated' March: Winifred Watson's 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day' 📖

37 replies

MotherofPearl · 01/03/2023 13:17

Welcome to the Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group, where we are reading and discussing fiction from the 1930s to the 1990s that would have been described as 'contemporary' in its day. We are reading one book a month. Spoilers are permitted!

We started the chat thanks to a thread where we kicked off with a discussion of Penelope Lively, The Road to Lichfield.

Currently we have these separate threads:
November: Anita Brookner, A Start in Life
December: Margaret Drabble: A Summer Bird-Cage
January: Elizabeth Jane Howard, The Beautiful Visit.

This month we are reading Winifred Watson's 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day', originally published in 1938.

Please do post your comments here when you are ready. I am only about a third of the way through the book so far, on account of finishing Whipple's 'Greenbanks' (which I loved, incidentally).

So far I'm enjoying Miss Pettigrew, though trying to adjust to the conceit of the whole set over just one day.

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FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 13/03/2023 13:40

On the one hand this was a whimsical story but it certainly had a serious side to it. Miss Pettigrew was really down on her luck, just surviving from one post to the next.

I thought that Joe's little push towards the end of the story, when he was trying to make Delysia see sense, stood out as a dated feature of the book. It was jarring.

GandhiDeclaredWarOnYou · 13/03/2023 14:32

I adore it. It was chosen for a book group I was in 15 years ago and I must have read it annually since. It is funny, charming and - except for the small references to the uncomfortable racism of the 1930s - an absolute delight.

“England expects,” as she’s shrieked at to her duty to her makeup makes me laugh every time. Invoking the spirit of Lord Nelson towards mascara running is the sort of absurdity that makes the book so appealing.

Lovely end papers, lovely illustrations and an excellent choice by Persephone to reissue it.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 13/03/2023 15:39

There are some very witty lines in it. I would why rereading it would appeal.

SpikyHatePotato · 14/03/2023 23:16

I love Miss Pettigrew, but the casual racism and references to domestic violence really jar. Presumably Persephone's policy is to publish books 'as is', but it wouldn't have harmed the book to have edited those sections - there aren't many, and they are throwaway comments rather than plot points.

Buttalapasta · 15/03/2023 05:35

I'm glad it wasn't edited. I think it's important to read what the author intended.

DorisParchment · 15/03/2023 05:47

I have found my people! Why have I only just found this thread?

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 15/03/2023 06:23

I agree with Buttalapasta. It's important to know what the author wrote. These books are like a window on the past. If you were to erase certain details, you wouldn't get the full view. It's like the debate about changing words in the texts in Roald Dahl. It's nearly rewriting the stories.

Welcome DorisParchment! You should have a look at the main thread for the Rather Dated Bookclub.

BadSpellaSpellaSpella · 23/03/2023 19:14

I love this book, first read it many years ago on a holiday in France and it was such a delightful read.

I think it's important to keep the book as is, because that's how people were, it's differcult to progress on unless we remember where we've been. After saying that, the anti semitic parts always jar

ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 01/04/2023 22:57

DorisParchment · 15/03/2023 05:47

I have found my people! Why have I only just found this thread?

Welcome! It's such an amusing book. I'm not sure how well the film will hold up but I'm going to watch it over the weekend.

SpikeWithoutASoul · 02/04/2023 01:59

I absolutely loved this book. Gentle, funny and kind. A real comfort read.

I thought the film really missed the point. Frances McDormand was excellent and it looked beautiful, but they sucked all the warmth out of the story.

Original poster
MotherofPearl · 02/04/2023 08:58

📚 'Rather Dated' April: R.C. Sheriff's 'The Fortnight in September' 📚 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/whatweree_reading/4776329-rather-dated-april-rc-sheriffs-the-fortnight-in-september

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