Like a Virgin
Some books are very complex little gems. I think of the Psmith books by P.G.Wodehouse, or period pieces by Gwen Raverat. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day is a book similar to this. Perhaps it is the time period that it was written in; it was originally published in 1938. Perhaps it is the long narrow line drawings of people by Mary Thomson; the women tapered by ornate dresses, their hair elegantly waved, the men tailored to swooning point, all of them with doll-like little button eyes and noses. Perhaps it's Miss Pettigrew.
Miss Pettigrew is a governess, albeit not a very successful one, becoming more and more of a nurserymaid, a very shabby version of a genteel 'lady'. She goes in search of a job, finding herself at the flat of Miss LaFosse.(Miss!) When she opens the door, we see that Miss LaFosse is a lovely young creature who is having a little trouble with a man. Miss LaFosse has many little troubles with men, and Miss Pettigrew, ever so skillfully, yet almost accidentally, sorts them out. Here is the charm. Miss Pettigrew has a lovely sense of herself. She is a middle-aged virgin down on her luck, in the midst of socialite beauties, and so she often reminds herself, yet she has all the 'living' of these wholly antithetical women. She has all the thrill of the beautiful caddish womanizer typified by Miss LaFosse and she understands just what it is. She has a very strong sense of what Miss LaFosse needs.
To bring it about she assumes characters that are not apparently her own, characters of much stronger women. Miss LaFosse and the other socialites have hearts of gold, of course, and they love her for it. Miss Pettigrew is determined in one thing. She will not act today as she has all her life, with innocence and with petty morality, full of unimpeachable virtue. She tries, so daringly, to take these new ard rare opportunities as they are offered. All the little thrills of life, powder on her nose, night clubs, sherry. Despite her fears, Miss Pettigrew is successful. She gets what she so wants. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day.
Cecily Crampin
3rd May 2001