Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson

[goodreads]

Title: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Author: Helen Simonson
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 388
Date read: February, 2013

Major Ernest Pettigrew, retired, of Edgecombe St. Mary, England, is more than a little dismayed by the sloppy manners, narcissism, and materialism of modern society. The decline of gentility is evident everywhere, from tea bags to designer sweaters, to racism masquerading as tolerance.
Mutual grief allies him with Mrs. Ali, a widowed local shopkeeper of Pakistani descent who has also resigned herself to dignified, if solitary, last years. The carefully suppressed passion between these two spawns twitters of disapproval in their provincial village, but Pettigrew hasn't time for such silliness: real estate developers are plotting to carpet the fields outside his back door with mansionettes and his sister-in-law plans to auction off a prized family firearm. Meanwhile, Mrs. Ali's late husband's Muslim family expects her to hand over her hard-won business to her sullen, fundamentalist nephew, a notion she finds repellant and chauvinistic.

Absolutely delightful book! I feared for it a couple of times because I felt Major Pettigrew was getting pushed around, but he kept finding his spine before it was too late. I loved both him and Mrs. Ali, and actually also Sandy, whom I wish we had seen more of. It was just plain sweet. A great comfort read.