Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Peter Altschuler
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By:
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Helen Simonson
About this listen
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.
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?
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Editorial reviews
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, author Helen Simonson’s wry, perceptive debut novel about love, the British class system, and family obligations, genially unfolds amid a quaint, leafy English village, tweedy and provincial as any Miss Marple mystery, drafty vicarage and all. Edgecombe St. Mary is home to retired widower Major Ernest Pettigrew, a courtly, roguish martinet whose predictable daily order cracks when he loses his heart to Mrs. Ali, a genteel local Pakistani shopkeeper with “crisp enunciation”, who shares both his devotion to Kipling and the loss of a cherished spouse.
As narrated by Peter Altschuler, 68-year-old Major Pettigrew is a snippy educated snob with a posh accent and sentimental streak. Altschuler inhabits the Major as a man who telegraphs disappointment in Roger, his drippy banker son, through throat-clearings and stutters. But it’s his reading of complicated Mrs. Ali that truly elevates this book. Altschuler articulates her quiet, ruminating spirit and cautious nature by slowing down his own conversational flow. There is deliberateness and intimacy to Mrs. Ali reflected in her low, melodious speech and tinkling laughter. Her insecurities and droll humor sand down the Major’s prickliness and humanize his peevishness. Mrs. Ali, it turns out, is as funny and flawed as the rest of us.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is wistful and rolling, only gradually revealing the origins of blemishes in one’s family life. Roger’s social climbing, hinted at by Altschuler through his slick use of his father, gives way to a more nuanced explanation of the son’s ambition. And when the Major compares Mrs. Ali to other village dames, noting that she’s “a butterfly to their scuffle of pigeons”, you get the sense that Major Pettigrew, crusty, old soul, is meant to bust out flowery paeans to Mrs. Ali, off-key, certainly, but authentic, nonetheless. Nita Rao
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Autumn 1928. Three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. Rose, a beautiful but naive bride-to-be, is anxious about leaving her family and marrying a man she hardly knows. Victoria, her bridesmaid couldn't be happier to get away from her overbearing mother, and is determined to find herself a husband. And Viva, their inexperienced chaperone, is in search of the India of her childhood, ghosts from the past and freedom.
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Indian history takes a back seat to 3 young women
- By Richard on 05-24-16
By: Julia Gregson
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The Mayfair Bookshop
- A Novel of Nancy Mitford and the Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Eliza Knight
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.
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Perfectly Voices, Upliftingly Fun
- By Syd Young on 04-15-22
By: Eliza Knight
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A Share in Death
- By: Deborah Crombie
- Narrated by: Michael Deehy
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A week's holiday in a luxurious hotel is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But his vacation ends dramatically with the discovery of a dead body in the whirlpool bath. Despite a suspicious lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised significantly when a second murder occurs....
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series readers, start here
- By connie on 02-09-13
By: Deborah Crombie
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Evergreen Falls
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A long-forgotten secret, a scandalous attraction and a place where two women's lives are changed forever. 1926: Violet Armstrong is one of the few remaining members of staff working at the grand Evergreen Spa Hotel as it closes down over winter. Only a handful of guests are left, including the heir to a rich grazing family, his sister and her suave suitor. When a snowstorm moves in, the hotel is cut off and they are all trapped. No-one could have predicted what would unfold.
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Soooo Boring
- By Merford on 10-09-19
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Secrets of the Lighthouse
- By: Santa Montefiore
- Narrated by: Susan Riddell
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ellen Trawton is running away from it all. She hates her job, she doesn't love the aristocratic man to whom she is engaged, and her relationship with her controlling mother is becoming increasingly strained. So Ellen leaves London, fleeing to her aunt's cottage in Connemara. Cutting ties with London society, Ellen gives in to Ireland's charm and warmth, thinking her future may lie where so much of her past has been hidden.
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Secrets of the Lighthouse-not so secret
- By brandiejean on 10-15-15
By: Santa Montefiore
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The Silent Woman
- Cat Carlisle, Book 1
- By: Terry Lynn Thomas
- Narrated by: Jan Cramer
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Catherine Carlisle is trapped in a loveless marriage, and the threat of World War Two is looming. She sees no way out...that is until a trusted friend asks her to switch her husband’s papers in a desperate bid to confuse the Germans. Soon Catherine finds herself caught up in a deadly mixture of espionage and murder. Someone is selling secrets to the other side, and the evidence seems to point right at her.
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Loved the characters
- By pam on 01-23-24
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Secrets of Nanreath Hall
- A Novel
- By: Alix Rickloff
- Narrated by: Lauren Irwin, Laura Waddell
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Cornwall, 1940. Back in England after the harrowing evacuation at Dunkirk, WWII Red Cross nurse Anna Trenowyth is shocked to learn her adoptive parents, Graham and Prue Handley, have been killed in an air raid. She desperately needs their advice, as she's been assigned to the military hospital that has set up camp inside her biological mother's childhood home - Nanreath Hall. Anna was just six years old when her mother, Lady Katherine Trenowyth, died. All she has left are vague memories that tease her with clues she can't unravel.
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Well done both narrators and Author !
- By Andover Meadow on 09-17-16
By: Alix Rickloff
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A Change of Climate
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ralph and Anna Eldred are an exemplary couple, devoting themselves to doing good. 30 years ago as missionaries in Africa, the worst that could happen did. Shattered by their encounter with inexplicable evil, they returned to England, never to speak of it again. But when Ralph falls into an affair, Anna finds no forgiveness in her heart, and 30 years of repressed rage and grief explode, destroying not only a marriage but also their love, their faith, and everything they thought they were.
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Beautifully written
- By Patricia S. on 10-11-15
By: Hilary Mantel
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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Deborah Moggach
- Narrated by: Juliet Mills
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled....
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Screenwriters Changed it for the Better
- By Carole T. on 06-05-12
By: Deborah Moggach
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Silver Wattle
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In fear for their lives after the sudden death of their mother, Adéla and Klára must flee Prague to find refuge with their uncle in Australia. Later, Adéla becomes a film director at a time when the local industry is starting to feel the competition from Hollywood. But even while success is imminent, the issues of family and an impossible love are never far away.
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Groan, Snore and Wince!
- By OrangeWisteria on 02-12-12
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After the War Is Over
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Robson
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After four years as a military nurse, Charlotte Brown is ready to leave behind the devastation of the Great War. The daughter of a vicar, she has always been determined to dedicate her life to helping others. Moving to busy Liverpool, she throws herself into her work with those most in need, only tearing herself away for the lively dinners she enjoys with the women at her boardinghouse.
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More romance than history
- By RueRue on 08-17-16
By: Jennifer Robson
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The Nightingale Girls
- By: Donna Douglas
- Narrated by: Penelope Freeman
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Three very different girls sign up as trainee nurses at a big London teaching hospital in 1934. Dora leaves her overcrowded, squalid working-class home for a better life. But has she got what it takes to keep up with other, better-educated girls? And will her hated stepfather ever let her go? Helen is born for the job; her brother is a doctor, her all-powerful mother a hospital trustee. But will Helen’s secret misery be her downfall? An aristocratic rebel, Millie’s carefree attitude will find her up in front of Matron again and again. Will she ever care enough to make a nurse? Or will she go back to the glamorous life she was born to?
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For young girls
- By deborah jernigan on 12-31-16
By: Donna Douglas
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Daughters of Eden
- By: Charlotte Bingham
- Narrated by: Kim Hicks
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Daughters of Eden focuses on the lives and fortunes of four very different young women at the outbreak of the Second World War. Marjorie, left at a boarding school by her emigrating mother; plain Poppy, pushed into marriage with a mean-spirited aristocrat; Kate, despised by her father, but determined to prove herself; and man-mad Lily, who turns out to be the bravest of them all. That all of them are chosen to work undercover for the espionage unit at Eden Park is a surprise, not least to them.
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An amazing book everyone should read.
- By XX on 09-11-05
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Grand Central
- Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion
- By: Melanie Benjamin, Amanda Hodgkinson, Pam Jenoff, and others
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through New York City's Grand Central Terminal, through the whispering gallery, beneath the ceiling of stars, and past the information booth and its beckoning four-faced clock, to whatever destination is calling them. It is a place where people come to say hello and good-bye. And each person has a story to tell.
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Grand Central: Memories
- By ZacharyKindle Customer on 05-03-17
By: Melanie Benjamin, and others
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Named of the Dragon
- By: Susanna Kearsley
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The charm of spending the Christmas holidays in South Wales, with its crumbling castles and ancient myths, seems the perfect distraction from the nightmares that have plagued literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw since the loss of her baby five years ago. Instead she meets an emotionally fragile young widow who's convinced that Lyn's recurring dreams have drawn her to Castle Farm for an important purpose - and she's running out of time.
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Not Kearsley's best
- By Sindy on 06-27-16
By: Susanna Kearsley
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Was this written by an AI?
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For years, guitarist Quinn Porter has been on the road, chasing gig after gig, largely absent to his twice-ex-wife Belle and their odd, Guinness records-obsessed son. When the boy dies suddenly, Quinn seeks forgiveness for his paternal shortcomings by completing the requirements for one of his son's unfinished Boy Scout badges. For seven Saturdays Quinn does yard work for Ona Vitkus, the spry 104-year-old Lithuanian immigrant the boy had visited weekly.
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Loved it
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The Shell Seekers
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At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling's prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather's work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer...and it lies in her heart.
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Disappointing.
- By BikeVON on 05-17-16
By: Phaedra Patrick
What listeners say about Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- connie
- 03-09-10
The world needs more novels like this
This is a humorous, gentle well-written comedy of manners, nothing trite about it. There's no angst or violence or silly bodice ripping. Although a light read, it's still in touch with reality ( especailly that of "polite" prejudice of many kinds). The novel can say that you're never too old for love without sounding like a hallmark card. Reading this novel won't change your life, but it sure can brighten up a gloomy day or soothe the progress of a head cold. May the author write on and on. (Note if you dislike a Brit character who feels "assaulted by American vowels," this may not be for you - there are lots of pride and prejudices in all the lovely, flawed characters.)
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68 people found this helpful
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- Helen
- 04-02-10
Very Interesting!
I enjoyed this book; learning the mores and practices of this class of society was very enlightening -- as well as all their prejudices. The reader was very expressive, and the author was very insightful in describing these complex relationships.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Theodore
- 05-01-10
Too broad for my taste
Had the narrator not underlined the humor so emphatically I would have enjoyed this novel more - it came highly recommended and I had high expectations. I enjoyed the story, but the reading was too broad for my taste.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jan
- 06-26-12
I liked it, but surprised so many others do too...
The dry, witty comments of Major Pettigrew as he watches cultures, class status, generations, genders, traditions and values collide over a cup of tea make this a delightful book. Honestly, my husband wouldn't listen to 5 minutes, but I enjoyed watching the Major reluctantly evolve. Insightful writing.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Dennis
- 08-10-10
A Major Success
Ostensibly, this is a senior love story, but it is much,much more. Major Pettigrew, and he insists upon the honorific, is a stogy widower in a remote English village who is forced to come to terms with a spoiled, ladder-climbing son, a widowed Pakistani merchant, the death of his brother, radical change in his beloved town, a sullen young Muslim, the annual play put on by his elite club, and his own pretensions.
The author writes crisply, empathically, and makes us care for her characters. She allows us, along with the Major, to question our values and dares us to make the decisions that, while not popular, make us happy.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lewis
- 08-02-10
Delightful
This is a wonderful out-of-the ordinary novel. The characters are charming. I highly recommend it. The narrator is good, except when trying to fake a Pakistani accent.
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1 person found this helpful
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- CrazyBird
- 02-09-13
A Wonderful Book
I do not use the term lightly when I say the narration of this Audible book is superb. Mr. Pettigrew's Last Stand is a touching and pleasant read. It is written from an older, well seasoned man's perspective as he goes about simply living his life. There are few novels of daily life, in its routine, that are from a man's point of view. Major Pettigrew' story is told through his mind and heart, this is one of the many reasons I so enjoyed the book. There are no scenes bigger than life, yet all of man's, and woman's, emotions seem to be touched upon. There is loss and loneliness, tenderness, love, a little greed, much ' English ' pride, an abundance of humor and a few moments of cliff hanging suspense. There are a few trials and triumphs of the generations, each trying for closeness and independence. I highly recommend this book for a relaxing, enjoyable listening experience. I feel there is nothing to offend a reader, no fowl language, no offensive sex scenes and no trying to push a message or agenda. What a relief!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Diane M. Gregson
- 12-12-22
Charming
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a warm and funny story. Understated, but amusing.
The narrator, Peter Altschuler, is excellent and greatly contributed to the pleasure of this listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anne
- 08-24-19
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
The narrator made the book come alive. Totally entertaining! You have to like British humor.
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- Debb
- 08-23-16
Thoroughly enjoyable. Hated for it to end.
Peter Altschuler was an integral part of my enjoyment of this book. I think he was Major Pettigrew in another life! I loved the characters and their development. A couple of the plot lines were a bit overwrought but not enough to distract. A delightful listen.
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