Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

I finished Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day last night and determined that I was going to watch the film tonight so I could compare the book to the film.

Despite the book being a bit of a slow read for me to start, I much preferred it to the film - it's funnier, wittier and more colourful then the film, which was enjoyable nonetheless.

Keith Pickering, Ms. Watson's son, explained the adaptions made from book to film best:

A book is a book, a film is a film. They're two different art forms, not wildly different, because obviously there are links...but they're an art form and therefore I have absolutely no hang-ups about, 'Oh, but my mother wrote this and my mother wrote that and this is a film and they've changed it.' Nonsense! They've got to change it because a book is written at a different pace, a lot depends on individual words that are put in that can be funny or can be taken this way or can be heartbreaking, etc. A film, you're dealing with a far wider audience for a start and...I think your story has got to have probably more dramatic movement in it then the book.

Of course, much has already been written in the blogosphere about the fabulous period sets - my favourite being Miss LaFosse's bedroom with the fantastic wallpaper - it brings to mind Fromental's handpainted Chinoiserie Collection - and the upholstered, tufted wall and headboard:

Photos via

P.S. Shirley Henderson, the actress who plays Edith DuBarry, has such a distinctive voice that I immediately recognized her as Moaning Myrtle from the Harry Potter films.