Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel

by Helen Simonson

Written with a delightfully dry sense of humour and the wisdom of a born storyteller, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand explores the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of family obligation and tradition.

When retired Major Pettigrew strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani village shopkeeper, he is drawn out of his regimented world and forced to confront the realities of life in the twenty-first century. Brought together by a shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship on the cusp of blossoming into something more. But although the Major was actually born in Lahore, and Mrs. Ali was born in Cambridge, village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as a permanent foreigner. The Major has always taken special pride in the village, but will he be forced to choose between the place he calls home and a future with Mrs. Ali?

• ISBN10: 0812981227
• ISBN13: 9780812981223
• Publish Date: 30 November 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780812981223

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

A pleasant, well-written, if sometimes heavy-handed, story of love and romance after 60.  That sounds a bit milquetoast, but that's not what the book is; it may not have stirred my soul, but it was easy to pick up and hard to put down.     Small village, small minds, race relations and a dying class system set the scene for a plot that is not unpredictable. But Simonson excels at writing rich characters that come alive on the page; the only time she failed for me was Roger.  Roger had no redeeming qualities and should have been disinherited posthaste.  Otherwise, the characters are what make the story.   A very solid 4 stars.

[ibeforem]

There was something quite charming about this book. Major Pettigrew appears to be a sweet old man on the surface, but beneath he’s quite opinionated, and more than a little dismayed at some of the changes in his life. His brother has passed away, his son appears ready to dispel with the family estate, and the pastoral view behind his home is in danger of disappearing. The sometimes-shy-sometimes-bold Mrs. Ali (an also-widowed foreigner) seems to be a perfect match for him, but others in his staunchly conservative traditional countryside town have different ideas.

This book has a lot to say about family, race, religion, age, and tolerance. The young in the story have much to learn from the old, and vice versa. The English countryside setting is relaxing, despite being a little stressful for its inhabitants. The concept of manor homes and Lords and family estates is a bit foreign to most of us in the U.S., but I think that’s part of what lends the setting its charm.

I really liked Major Pettigrew. He’s old-fashioned, yet forward thinking. Gentle, yet cranky. Intelligent, yet frighteningly obtuse at times. He really is the star of the story, and not just because his name’s on the cover.

I wouldn’t call this an exciting read, but it was certainly a good one. It was unanimously liked in my book club, and that’s not easy to find.

[Eve1972]

I wanted to like this one, but after 150 pages I just found it extremely boring and am going to give up on it.