At first, I thought about giving Miss Pettigrew four stars, because I found that the movie had done a much better job - giving the main character depth and gravity which she lacks in the book. However, it is much easier to comment on an age from a safe distance, having at your disposal the knowledge of the future and of the upcoming World War. 
 While I was writing a five-star review I could not shake the feeling that this book is not perfect. I managed to identify the feeling and its name is "The End", not performed by The Doors, but written by Winifred Watson. I'm not a cruel bitch, and I'm glad when the characters I love end up being happy. 
 No matter how much I enjoyed the fact that Miss Pettigrew got her happy ending, the Objective Reader winced at it. She was not meant to get an ending, she was meant to live happily for a day. The book should've ended with Miss Pettigrew at Miss LaFosse's door, wondering about what the day after brings. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is just another daydream, another fantasy and as such it works perfectly, but it doesn't work up to a five star rating, something I think is a great shame. 
 Nonetheless, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is full of wonderfully portrayed characters and witty dialogues. Feminism and women's rights are touched upon in the subtlest of manners, imposing nothing and resenting nobody. Winifred Watson was capable of creating a life-like creature without overwhelming it with extensive biographical data and info on physical appearance which in fact do not add to characterization but actually kill it, not leaving the room for the reader to take part in the creation of the character. She knew what many modern writers seem to have forgotten - less is more. A shame she did not stick to it until the end.