Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel is many things: a romance, a drama, a comedy of manners. It's the manners part that made me very uncomfortable for the first half of the book.
Poor Major Pettigrew. His brother has just died. His son is an ass. The whole village of Edgecombe St. Mary wants to marry him off to a local spinster. Enter the humble local shopkeeper, Mrs. Ali.
Major Pettigrew instantly is attracted to her quiet manner, her exotic loveliness, her interest in poetry and Kipling. Between backhanded snubs and outspoken rudeness, I was most miserable until Major Pettigrew started speaking up and taking his last stand. For a detailed summary of this novel, you can click here.
My friend, Sara, recommended this book to me. I texted her in the middle of her California vacation to find out if it would ever get less depressing. She assured me it does. I stuck with it, and am thoroughly pleased with the result.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel is an adult book. There is a sad reference to an abortion, and the relationships in the novel are not exactly chaste, but there is nothing graphic or gross, lascivious or salacious in the novel. In other words, it's a fine book for adults. I wish there were more like this.
If you know of any, please add to my reading list in the comments or in your own WWRW post which you can link up here.
I think I started this a few years ago and put it down. I'm encouraged now to give it another try.
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting! I wish I knew of any like it I could recommend... The only adult books on my shelf right now are Steineack's Tortilla Flat and Waugh's Brideshead Revisited (and they're still unread.)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book! The love story was so sweet. Atticus was the last novel I read. It was good but much darker than Major Pettigrew.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I've been meaning to read this one. I'm adding it to my Goodreads "to read" list right now.
ReplyDelete