How did a forgotten 1938 novel about a governess who storms London society lead to surprise box-office hit? Vanessa Thorpe reports
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The humorous exploits of a dowdy English governess over the course of a single day in the 30s are not obvious blockbuster material, but they have wowed cinema audiences in the United States and have helped transform the fortunes of a small British publishing house.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day has now grossed more than US$12 million ($16.3 million) in the US after charming the critics.
Winifred Watson's quaint 1938 novel was rediscovered and reprinted by the UK's Persephone Books eight years ago and has remained its best-selling title.
Now the appeal of the film version, made at Ealing Studios by Kudos Film and Television, has led to a jump in sales.
The novel was a small sensation in the 1940s, but has gone on to sell far more copies after being republished by Persephone, which specialises in forgotten women's literature from the inter-war years.
In the month since the release of the film in the US, 12,000 copies have been sold, while British sales have topped 24,000, a remarkable feat for a book in a niche market.
The film is directed by Bharat Nalluri and the Oscar-winning American actress Frances McDormand takes the role of down-at-heel Miss Guinevere Pettigrew, whose life takes an unexpected turn when she looks for new work.
It opens in British and New Zealand cinemas this week, and has delighted US critics and audiences.
"Miss Pettigrew is a swell adaptation of Winifred Watson's 1938 novel, which was risque for its time but just right for ours," enthused the critic on the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Frothy and exuberantly entertaining - in part because of the sexual innuendos - it's the best romantic comedy so far this year."
"It is like a fairytale," Keith Pickering, the author's son, said.
"It was first going to be turned into a film in about 1940, with Billie Burke, wife of Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, in the lead role.
"I can't believe it is really happening more than 60 years later. I first read the book when I was about 16 and, I may be biased, but I still think it is one of the best I have ever read."
The new film adaptation was drafted by Simon Beaufoy, screenwriter of The Full Monty, with David Magee.
"We have always had high hopes for the film because of the cast and the screenplay, but the popularity in the US has been exciting," said a spokeswoman from Kudos.
Watson, who died in 2002, was 94 at the time of the 2000 reprint and was pleased at the scale of the rediscovery of a book that had always been her own favourite.
Emily Hill, formerly of Persephone Books and now at Penguin, said: "It is an amazing story. It is Cinderella-like, and, when you have finished reading it, you want to put on a frock and go out to a party."
The author gave up writing when her home in Newcastle, north-east England, was bombed in 1941. No one was able to persuade her to pick up her pen again. Her son believes she lost her creative heart.
"She had just brought me down from the bedroom when it happened and we were saved by that fact," remembers her son."We sheltered from the blast by the settee in the front room, but many nearby were killed ...
My mother decided to stop writing then and she used all the money from her royalties for her books to give me an education."
The novel is set in London, where Miss Pettigrew finds herself jobless and friendless. Looking for work at the flat of a sophisticated cabaret singer, Delysia Lafosse, played by Amy Adams, the governess is called upon to handle a string of suitors.
Lafosse repays her new employee by transforming her into a glittering London socialite. "For a while we worried that the film would be set in America, but no, Frances is playing the character with an English accent and it is still set in London. Only Amy Adams's character has been changed into an American," said Hill.
Pickering, a retired Guinness executive who now lives in London, said the money was a secondary issue for his mother's relatives, too.
"The family will get some money from any increased book sales but, to be honest, the money means nothing to me compared with getting a wider group of readers for my mother."
McDormand became so fond of the story and the character of Miss Pettigrew that she asked Nicola Beauman, founder of Persephone Books, if she could record an audio version of the novel. This goes on sale soon alongside a new classic edition of the book.
LOWDOWN
What: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
When and where: Opens at Rialto, Bridgeway, Lido, Matakana, Hoyts cinemas on Thursday
- OBSERVER
