Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - A Warm and Witty Story of modern English Manners

This charming debut novel brings together two endearing characters who not only connect despite their cultural divide, but do so, against the odds, in a way which is utterly heart warming.

They are also older than your midpoint story-book lovers, which lends us greater empathy for their trials.

Pettigrews

The modern English hamlet is a meeting place of cultures and lifestyles - with Pakistani shopkeepers, affluent bankers and developers, and retired teachers, rubbing shoulders with the old county set and the vicar.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - A Warm and Witty Story of modern English Manners

I could not stop reading to find out what Pettigrew did next, although the myriad and colorful cast of hamlet characters can become sLightly confusing. The Major is a genuine hero - witty, acerbic, principled - and yet still romantic and with a steely determination. He is an old fashioned personel - a real gentleman with a love of good tea, golf, and a day's shooting - who meets a smart and lovely lady. His best moments are left without comment by Helen Simonson, so the reader may smile and feel a incommunicable sense of appreciation, when Pettigrew executes some small shrewd or cleverly plotted tactic.

Comparisons with Jane Austen's hamlet lives must spring to mind, for the families of the would-be lovers are just as mixed up and embarrassing as the Bennetts of Pride and Prejudice.

Like all true heroes, Pettigrew is painted in such a way that we love him and cheer him on. Shopkeeper Mrs Ali proves to be polite but unexpectedly tough - a woman of character. The pair are as if out of time - polite mid-twentieth century habitancy dealing with a twenty first century world of superficiality, shallow dealings and transitory relationships. The miracle is that they find each other despite their differences, and have the courage to grasp the anticipation of happiness.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - A Warm and Witty Story of modern English Manners

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