“Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” was a perfect novel to end 2011 on. It’s a witty, entertaining read about a retired British army officer who’s a widdower living in a small English village. Sixty-eight-year-old Major Pettigrew is old-fashioned and set in his ways (definitely a character! he calls them like he sees them), but then at the start his brother dies and he meets Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper, also a widdower who shares his love of literature and begins to broaden his perspective. In due time, the Major is smitten with her, but prejudices of the snobby village residents (a bit harsher versions of Hyacinth in PBS’s “Keeping Up Appearances”) and their families come between, threatening to end their chance at romance.
The novel hums along on the happenstances of the retired Major, who like it or not, is apart of the village mileau, out golfing, duck hunting and attending family functions and parties. His son, Roger, is an obnoxious social climber who doesn’t exactly share his father’s polite charm. How the Major placates him and the brash villagers while his affections for Mrs. Ali grow is quite a hoot — not to be missed. Nor is the ending of this adorable story, in which the Major dashes into action in the nick of time. Hip hip hooray for the Major! An unlikely but lovable hero.
I agree with the New York Times’ Janet Maslin who wrote: “It’s about intelligence, heart, dignity and backbone. “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” has them all.” For sure, it does. Amazing, too, that it’s such an assured debut novel. The English-born author Helen Simonson gives plenty of insight into the small-town life of her home country. But it’s her gifted storytelling that makes it such a delightful and easy read.
