Book: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

I heard Diane Rehm interview Helen Simonson a few weeks ago, and so I checked out this book when I saw it at the library. It is a wonderful novel! Major Pettigrew is a widower in his 60s who lives alone in Sussex and who holds dear the notions of civility and honor, doing the right thing and living a neat and tidy life. But he is lonely and one day, by chance, Mrs. Ali enters his world. She is a Pakistani woman who runs a small shop in town. She is a widow. She has a very religious nephew who has come to help her in the shop and Major Pettigrew has a very modern son who works in banking in London. The story opens when the Major hears of the death of his only sibling, his brother Bertie. He is shaken by this news and feels vulnerable and the story proceeds from there.

Ms. Simonson now lives in Washington, DC, but "spent her teenage years in East Sussex." This is her first novel. It is very English but also broadly appealing and pertinent in subject matter. Perhaps there are a couple of overly dramatic scenes, but mostly is it gentle and descriptive, a novel of a stalwart mannerly gentleman and a delightful warm woman. Both struggle with traditional ways but are also able to step out of bounds and leave behind what binds them to some of these traditions, binds them in stultifying ways

Esther, if you read this blog, I guarantee you will love this book, and probably Faith and Maria also. I am not surprised Diane Rehm loved it. It seems she could have been one of the characters.

Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer Prize winner) says: "In the noisy world of today it is a delight to find a novel that dares to assert itself quietly with the lively rhythm of Helen Simonson's funny, comforting and intelligent debut...."

And, the cover is sweet.....