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NOVEL: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
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AUTHOR: Helen Simonson
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YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2010
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REVIEW:
They have a lot in common, the widowed Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village, and Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired). They live quiet lives. They are both lonely after the death of their spouses. They share a fondness for English literature. He has a extremely obnoxious son with a complicated romantic life. She has an extremely obnoxious nephew with a complicated romantic life. They form a friendship, and possibly more, and horrify their families and the neighbors in Edgecombe St. Mary in the process.
In short, it’s a Romeo and Juliet story, but with much older protagonists and a much lower body count. And these older but wiser lovers are a joy and a delight to get to know. Read this one with a big cup of tea and some scones and clotted cream.
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RATING (one to five whistles, with five being the best): 3 ½ whistles
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HOW TO PURCHASE: Amazon
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ALSO ON OUR BOOKSHELVES:
A Patchwork Planet, Anne Tyler
Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon
Bonjour Tristesse, Francoise Sagan
Cockpit Confidential, Patrick Smith
Envious Casca, Georgette Heyer
Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers
The Dancer of Izu, Kawabata Yasunari
The Monogram Murders, Sophie Hannah
The Mother & Child Project, Hope Through Healing Hands (ed.)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
The Unrest-Cure and Other Stories, Saki
The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
Up At The Villa, W. Somerset Maugham
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Lead-In Image Courtesy of Tymonko Galyna/Shutterstock.com
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Laura LaVelle is an attorney and writer who lives in Connecticut, in a not quite 100-year-old house, along with her husband, two daughters, and a cockatiel.
Laura can be contacted at laura@newswhistle.com
