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Description edit
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.... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
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... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Major Ernest Pettigrew: The main character, a widower in his mid-sixties.
- Jasmina Ali: The local shop owner, a widow. She is of Pakistani descent.
- Roger Pettigrew: Major Pettigrew's son, who lives and works in London.
- Sandy Dunn: Roger Pettigrew's American girlfriend.
- Fred Ferguson: The American guest of Lord Dagenham.
- Daisy Green: the Vicar's wife
- Gertrude Dagenham: Niece of Lord Dagenham, once smitten with Roger Pettigrew.
- Abdul Wahid: Mrs. Ali's nephew
- Alec Shaw: Retired from the Bank of England and a golfing buddy of the Major's
- Marjorie Pettigrew: Bertie's wife and the Major's sister-in-law
- Jemima Pettigrew: Bertie's daughter, the Major's niece.
- Robert Carroll "Bertie" Pettigrew: The Major's late brother.
- Alice Pierce: The major's next door neighbor and social issue advocate.
- George: Amina's son, a young Pakistani boy whom the Major and Mrs. Ali meet in a park.
- Nancy Pettigrew: The Major's late wife
- Amina: George's mother, an outspoken woman of Pakistani descent
- Mortimer Teale: The Major's solicitor.
- Mrs. Augerspier: A woman who is looking after a fishing cottage that becomes important to the plot.
- Alma Shaw: One of the ladies of the church Flower Guild.
- Hugh Whetstone: Another of the Major's golfing buddies.
- Father Christopher Green: The vicar.
- Ahmed Ali: Mrs Ali's late husband.
- Gregory: Jemima's son, the Major's grand-nephew.
- Colonel Preston: The Major's CO during the war.
- Grace DeVere: Member of Flower Guild of the church attended by the Major. Additionally, she has been tasked by ladies of the country club to arrange for the food for "An Evening at the Mughal Court," the country club's annual dance.
- Saadia "Sadie" Khan: Wife of Dr. Khan, a well-to-do Pakistani couple in the village
- Najwa Rasool: An acquaintance of Mrs. Ali who has agreed to cater Indian food for the country club's annual dance.
- Dave Ali: Ms. Ali's brother-in-law and Abdul's father
- Lord Daniel Dagenham: The landowner in town.
Quotes edit
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“The world is full of small ignorances. We must all do our best to ignore them and thereby keep them small.”
Mrs. Ali -
“He was tempted to celebrate his own boldness with a large glass of Scotch, but as he reached the kitchen he decided that a large glass of sodium bicarbonate would be more prudent.”
-
“America wielded her huge power in the world with a brash confidence that reminded him of a toddler who had got hold of a hammer.”
-
“Passion is all very well, but it wouldn't do to spill the tea.”
Major Pettigrew -
“The Maharajah's wife throws herself upon the protection of the British officer. He is only one man, but by God he is an Englishman.”
Daisy Green -
“We are all small-minded people, creeping about the earth grubbing for our own advantage and making the very mistakes for which we want to humiliate our neighbors.”
Major Pettigrew -
“Don't start getting all excited. That testicle is still in traction.”
Roger Pettigrew -
“"Pretty extreme way to call things off. Why doesn't he just send her a text message?"”
Roger -
“From the nation that conquered the West wearing leather chaps and hats made from dead squirrel.”
Major Pettigrew -
“He had forgotten that grief does not decline in a straight line or along a slow curve like a graph in a child's math book. Instead, it was almost as if his body contained a big pile of garden rubbish full both of heavy lumps of dirt and of sharp thorny brush that would stab him when he least expected it.”
Narrator referring to Major Pettigrew -
“Such an awful fragility of love, he thought, that plans are made and broken and remade in these gaps between rational behaviour.”
Major Pettigrew -
“Neither would a pair of fine guns make anyone a bigger man, he reminded himself, resolving to remain humble all day despite the compliments he was bound to receive.”
-
“"It's funny," she said, "to be suddenly presented with the possibility of making new friends. One begins to accept, at a certain age, that one has already made all the friends to which one is entitled. One becomes used to them as a static set - with some attrition, of course. People move far away, they become busy with their lives..." ΒΆ "Sometimes they leave us for good," added the Major, feeling his throat constrict. "Dashed inconsiderate of them, I say."”
Setting & Locations edit
- Edgecombe St. Mary, England: Major Pettigrew's home
- Hazelbourne-on-Sea: Bertie and Marjorie's home, a twenty minute ride from Edgecombe St. Mary.
First Sentence edit
Major Pettigrew was still upset about the phone call from his brother's wife and so he answered the doorbell without thinking. On the damp bricks of the patch stood Mrs. Ali from the village shop.
Themes & Symbolism edit
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Janet Maslin's Top 10 Books of 2010. (authoritative list)
This book is in Rainy Day Books (Staff Picks for 2010). (community list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Helen Simonson (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Random House
Country: United States
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 9781400068937
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Random House
Country: United States
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 9781400068937
Page Count: 334
Awards edit
- Amazon Best of the Month (March 2010: Fiction, #2)
- New York Times Bestseller (2010: Fiction)
- Waverton Good Read Award (2010)
- BookBrowse Awards (2010: Best Debut)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3619 .I56294 M35
- Dewey: 813.6
Subjects edit
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