Sock him one!

The novel for this week's review (slightly late!) is Winnifred Watson's "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day". The novel is about an out-of-work governess named Miss Pettigrew who is mistakenly sent to a singer named Miss LaFosse who is in need of a maid. Intially, Miss LaFosse's lifestyle clashes with Miss Pettigrew's ideals but Miss Pettigrew soon becomes indispensable to Miss LaFosse and her friends and viewed in this new light Miss Pettigrew decides to accept any new adventure that comes her way. It reminded me a little bit of Auntie Mame, it's never to late too start to live! live! live! The novel was first published in 1938 but went out of print at some point. In 2000, the novel was republished by Persephone Books, which is a publishing house that specializing in forgotten novels of the 20th century (mostly woman authors). I think that it is really cool that specialized publishers like this can thrive and introduce today readers to authors that would otherwise be forgotten ( and you can even suggest novels for the company to publish). Another really cool publishing house is Felony and Mayhem, which specializes in long ago murder mysteries usually from the UK, think more of Agatha Cristie than Mary Higgins Clark. I have a few books from Felony and Mayhem including two written by the wife of the former British ambassador to the United States. To read more about the books from Felony and Mayhem (and some from Persephone) you can visit this great bookseller called Bas Bleu (French for blue stocking which is a slang term for a woman who reads), they have really interesting books and gifts (including a useful reading pillow which I use every night when I read in bed).