Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali connect emotionally in part because they share the experience of having lost a spouse, and in part because they delight in love having come around a second time. How do you think relationships formed in grief are different from those that are not? When I hear "character-driven novel", I usually roll my eyes. I expect navel-gazing and lots of exploration of self, and it comes a bit too close to self-help for my tastes. But Simonson gets it absolutely right in Major Pettigrew. This novel is, essentially, a love story between a 68-year old retired Major Ernest Pettigrew and a 58-year old Pakistani shop keeper Mrs. Ali, brought together by their loneliness and love of literature. Yes, it doesn't sound very exciting, and yet it is an absolutely charming story. Set in modern England, it encompasses many facets of British life - clashes and frictions between generations, social classes, religions, and cultures - all portrayed from the POV of an aging, conservative and very proper man who, because of his late love, finds himself compelled to face many issues he preferred to avoid or overlook in the past. Delightful . . . Lots of books try to evoke Jane Austen . . . but Simonson nails the genteel British comedy of manners with elegant aplomb.”— The Christian Science Monitor Major's fascination with proper tea is particularly fun. He needs fine china, just the right about of milk, and NEVER (ever) in a styrofoam cup.

Then there is the matter of the two Churchill rifles so dear to the Major's heart. Deathbed promises and famly relationships are at risk. Traditions have to be honored. The book details the blossoming relationship between the Major and Mrs. Ali despite racial and social prejudice. The story also focuses on how each is affected by the demands of family and society. In the end, the Major makes his last stand and marries Mrs. Ali. Plans are, or at least were, afoot for a television production of the novel, but at present, it listed in IMDB.COM only as "in development." But as of now (March 2021) it is still a nogo, which is terribly sad. I had been very much looking forward to seeing Bill Nighy in the title role.Playful yet affecting . . . If you miss the Jeeves novels of P. G. Wodehouse—and don’t mind having your emotional buttons pushed—Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is the book for you.”— Buffalo News The Major (Earnest, aptly named) – Retired British Army, military attitude, and strong values, almost stuffy with an air of ostentation. The Major was out in his yard the next morning when he observed his hippie neighbor, Alice, crouched behind some bushes spying at workers who seemed to be surveying the land. Alice insisted they were surveying for a development project, and when she mentioned a possible American connection, the Major thought of Ferguson and decided to interrogate the workers. By pretending he already knew about the project, the Major found out that Lord Dagenham was indeed having his lands surveyed for a major development project. Disheartened, the Major returned to his yard and declined Alice’s offer to get involved in guerrilla tactics to drive away the surveyors. Alice displayed an unexpected tenderness towards the Major, noting his attachment to the village and his family’s history there.

I imagine that having a relationship with someone who has also gone through the trauma of grieving would be a strong connection. If the grief is new, it might be such a relief to have someone who really understands, that it would be enough at first. ... - jeann Jasmina is an independent spirit, a reader, a Pakistani woman before her time. Her nephew, Abdul Wahli is working in the shop but Jasmina feels more than capable of running her husband’s business. Tradition dictates her place and she must consider allowing Abdul to take over but she won’t go out without a fight. So, I enjoyed this tale of old farts in love. It was indeed the right book at the right time. And next time I read about two foolish kids whose eyes meet across a crowded dance floor, and they just KNOW that it was meant to be... Mrs. Ali left, and the Major wasn’t able to say goodbye to her. Right after the disastrous party, the Major caught a cold that laid him up in bed. Meanwhile, the Christmas holidays were approaching and the village was gearing up for them with lots of decorations. When the Major finally mustered up the courage to stop by the village shop, he was greeted by another one of Abdul Wahid’s aunts, who was surly and unfriendly. When Abdul Wahid himself finally appeared, the Major was surprised and hurt by the level of formality in Abdul Wahid’s voice. The Major could not comprehend why the young man wanted to keep him at such a distance. Although Abdul Wahid expressed gratitude again for the Major’s hospitality, he also made it clear that they would not be friends.British village life novels have long been a cherished enterprise, much adored by the public since the age of the divine Miss Austen and continuing with E. F. Benson, P. G. Woodhouse, Agatha Christie, and a variety of modern writers, including Caroline Graham, Joanna Trollope, and David Mitchell. Such diversions are generally welcome and it was with great expectations that I opened the first novel by a transplanted Brit Helen Simonson, who sought to occupy her time as "a stay-at-home mother in Brooklyn [and her former:] busy advertising job" in creative writing programs. The result was the present volume. While her efforts are worthy of praise, her results are not. Without imagination and sensitivity to language even the best writing programs cannot produce a credible storyteller, let alone a creative writer. Although her romantic tale of a slightly stuffy and somewhat depressed retired major and a self-possessed Pakistani shopkeeper and widow has possibilities, the narrative is trite, the minor characters are stereotypes, and the denouement reads like a "Perils of Pauline" melodrama. Ms. Simonson's descriptions reveal that she possesses a good thesaurus: nary a noun can seemingly exist without a modifier....whispers must be hoarse, dandelions budding, curves wobbly, and so on. It seems unfortunate that she could not employ that invaluable thesaurus in the creation of an occasional action verb to moderate her adjectival assault. (Now she has me doing it.) In any case, such writing is a sure sign of an ingenue, but is not in itself sufficient reason to abandon a book of imagination and charm (as the recent GUERSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY has so successfully revealed). Unexpectedly entertaining, with a stiff-upper-lip hero who transcends stereotype, this good-hearted debut doesn’t shy away from modern cultural and religious issues, even though they ultimately prove immaterial. The human race is all the same when it comes to romantic relations,' said the Major. 'A startling absence of impulse control combined with complete myopia The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the plot also involves the political and economic issues related to future land use and development. Fortunately, the writing contains just enough wry humor to keep a smile on the reader’s face. The story ends with enough excitement to make it worth reading all the way to the end. Much of the novel focuses on the notion of "otherness." Who is considered an outsider in Edgecombe St. Mary? How are the various village outsiders treated differently? There were similar problems with the plot: There were several scenes where I thought, "Oh, BS. The author has no idea about this." A lot of the gun stuff, specifically, and people's behavior at a hunt, was simply not credible.

Production: What we know about Major Pettigrew's Last Stand?

Both The Major & Mrs. Ali have recently lost spouses and are finding their way through grief. The book opens with another loss for The Major, his only brother Bernie. To complicate this sense of loss, the brothers held separately a pair of valuable guns inherited from their father. The Major thought these were willed to him, Bernie’s family wants the cash Bernie’s gun would bring. This is almost more unbearable a loss to The Major than that of his brother. When Major Pettigrew meets Mrs. Ali, the earth does not move, or stop, for that matter. She's just that woman from the village shop. No biggie. They share many, many cups of tea, take walks together, meet to (be still my heart!) discuss books, and help solve crises involving others' matters of the heart. It is a story of finding love at any age, and the importance of discovering common ground and seeing beyond our petty differences. This book touches on so many aspects of life that there seems to be something for just about anyone – obligation, loyalty, integrity, grief, loss, jealousy, and love. Parent-child relationships and differences in the generations are explored in a humorous, and sometimes poignant, manner. It gently skewers British small-town social conventions and American cultural insensitivities. My only complaint is that the ending is unexpectedly quite different in tone and pace than the rest of the book.