Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson.

               Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson.

"The sense of simple joy was so poignant it was almost pain. She would not let herself think of tomorrow when all this would only be a dream. This was today."


Ever heard of Winifred Watson? She wrote six novels from 1935-1943. Five of them contained either a rural or historical setting based around the north-east of England and because of their romantic nature, Watson soon developed a strong female following before Catherine Cookson. But it was the book written in 1938, initially rejected by her publishers as being too risque that proved the most popular of her books. A musical version had been planned with Billie Burke playing Guinevere but Pearl Harbour ended all hope of this although it eventually inspired the  2008  film  starring Frances McDormand as Guinevere, Amy Adams as Delysia and Mark Strong as Nick.

The book is charming and funny "pure Cinderella fantasy, farce with beaus, bounders, negligees and nightclubs" more like watching a Fred Astaire film or an Oscar Wilde play. Satirical and entertaining. But like Cinders it might also hint that Guinevere gets her Prince and lives happily ever after. Who knows?

Guinevere Pettigrew is an ordinary character who is accidentally catapulted into an exciting adventure that lasts for a day. A dream come true. She is in her late thirties but could be in her forties. Watson is vague on this. She works for an agency as a governess but the sad thing is that she admits to Delysia La Fosse (formerly Sarah Glubb), a glamorous actress/singer that she hated working as a governess, she couldn't manage children and that without this kind of work there would be no future left than to seek refuge in the workhouse.

She's in an unenviable position. Without family or friends to support her she's out on a limb, very much the outcast. And don't we like an under-dog? She is behind with her rent and if she doesn't get a job, she knows she'll be booted out of her flat into the workhouse.

A common theme running through Watson's novels supports women having second chances. There we have it, a happy novel in spite of Guinevere's precarious personal circumstances at the start. Another spoiler? Well, okay. Hint. The wheel of fortune might turn in her favour…..
She turns up at the agency. We can't have a destitute heroine can we? It is 9.15.a.m. on a cold, grey, foggy November morning. Guinevere felt the situation to be hopeless before she is told there have been two requests: one for a maid, another for a nursery governess. Miss Holt at the agency disliked our heroine and it seems possible she wanted her to come unstuck by giving her the wrong booking on purpose, hoping to get rid of her for good.

A self-conscious Guinevere, wearing her non-descript, shabby, even ugly clothes, a symbol of faded gentility in spite of her unimpeachable virtue found herself at an exclusive and opulent London address: Onslow Mansions. A shocking contrast between wealth and poverty. Her potential employer was a beautiful and desirable woman called Delysia La Fosse, a young, unmarried but rather promiscuous artist with three gorgeous and exciting lovers who were insanely jealous of each other. Her maid has just left and she is unable to run a house-cook, clean the usual stuff. So, Guinevere's arrival is a God send. She doesn't question the girl and Guinevere is so desperate to earn a living that she gets started with breakfast and seems to fit in so perfectly.

She is alarmed at experiencing this wicked, corrupted existence where one lover replaces another and she(the mistress) falls into bed with ease with one after the other. Just like the cinema. Guinevere gets drawn into this new and exciting world with the Phils, the Nicks and the Michaels. She becomes a marriage counsellor and becomes so absorbed into Delysia's love life that she takes on the role of caring parent. At times she is more like the battle-axe, fending off the lovers and giving them ultimatums. Wonderful satire.

A frumpy Guinevere is transformed into a vampish, seductive and sophisticated woman by Edythe Dubarry, another friend of the actress, another loose woman who vamped the boss, seduced him into marrying her and when he died, after a short marriage, she inherited the best beauty parlour in London and wealth. She makes our heroine look fastidiously elegant so that when she appears at the Ogilveys cocktail party she is the belle of the ball, the toast of the theatre crowd of London. Like Eliza Doolittle tales soon spread that she is a first-class mimic, a future star with a promising career on stage. A dream come true. Or make believe?

Remember what happened to Cinderella when the clock struck twelve? Will the same fate befall Miss Pettigrew and is there a happy ending in store for such a delightful character as Guinevere? Tonight she was Cinderella but what about tomorrow and the future? Aha! Wonderful fantasy. Recommended by 1001 books you must read before you die. I loved it!


Publishers: Persephone Classics.   ISBN: 978-1-906462-02-4

 REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

 Copyright 2015. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.

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