"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" by Winifred Watson

I've always gotten "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" and "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" mixed up in my mind (with "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" only adding to the confusion...!).  So, having just read "Mrs. Harris" (reviewed here), I decided "Miss Pettigrew" would be my next read. ("Major Pettigrew" reviewed here, FYI!) 

"Miss Pettigrew," by Winifred Watson, was published in 1938 and, like "Mrs. Harris," (published 20 years later), it's a bit of a fairy tale. One Goodreads review I read likened it to a 1930s screwball comedy, and that's a pretty apt comparison. (I kept picturing Carole Lombard in the role of Miss LaFosse, and one of her lovers is likened to Clark Gable!  Apparently there's a 2008 movie version, starring Frances McDormand as Miss Pettigrew -- she also narrates the audiobook version --  and Amy Adams as Miss LaFosse.)  

The plot:  dowdy middle-aged spinster governess Miss Guinevere Pettigrew is out of a job, flat broke and on the verge of homelessness when her employment agency (mistakenly) sends her to the apartment of Miss Delysia LaFosse for a job interview. No children are present, nor a husband -- but there's a man in Miss LaFosse's bedroom (gasp!) -- and she's desperate to get rid of him before her the lover/manager she shares the apartment with returns from a business trip. Miss Pettigrew to the rescue! By the end of a whirlwind day on the town in the company of Miss LaFosse, her friends and their assorted lovers, the very prim and proper Miss Pettigrew is utterly transformed -- and so are they. 

This was a short, fast read and quite enjoyable for the most part. It's very much a book of its times -- for good (e.g., the screwball elements and snappy dialogue) --but also, unfortunately, not-so-good: there are disparaging references to Miss LaFosse's lovers' ethnic backgrounds, and many of the men display a rather brutish/misogynistic attitude towards women.  

Passages like this can grate on a modern reader, and while I can often overlook the odd such reference or two, there were just a few too many scattered throughout this book for my comfort. So, after some thought, 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 on Goodreads. 

This was Book #21 read to date in 2026 (and Book #3 finished in August), bringing me to 53% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."