The Book: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
By Winifred Watson, Published in 1938
First published in 1938, it was reissued in the United Kingdom in 2000, complete with thirty-five original illustrations, and has sold over 22,000 copies. Miss Pettigrew, an approaching-middle-age governess, was accustomed to a household of unruly English children. When her employment agency sends her to the wrong address, her life takes an unexpected turn. The alluring nightclub singer, Delysia LaFosse, becomes her new employer, and Miss Pettigrew encounters a kind of glamour that she had only met before at the movies. Over the course of a single day, both women are changed forever.
Winifred Watson (1907-2002) lived in Newcastle and wrote six novels in all; she chose to stop writing after the birth of her son in 1941. The Times interviewed her at age 94 when Persephone Books reissued the book in 2000. The headline was "Bodice-Ripping Fame at 94".
The Movie: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Director: Bharat Nalluri
Starring: Amy Adams as Delysia Lafosse
Frances McDormand as Guinevere Pettigrew
Release Date: March 27, 2008
Tagline: Every Woman Will Have Her Day
Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.
1 comments:
I reviewed it here.
That explains why it seemed so genuinely '30s. They kept it very true to the time. Although, you know, books back then were rather saucy in a sort of innocent way.
Good movie. Well worth seeing.
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