Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Here's a charming one for you- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. This is a lovely novel  about a classic English gentleman, Major Pettigrew, a widower in his late sixties who unexpectedly falls in love with the beautiful Mrs.Ali, a Pakistani widow who runs a village shop. Their backgrounds couldn't be more different but they discover they actually have many things in common and they slowly fall in love much to the shock of  their family and friends.

"It surprised him that his grief was sharper than in the past few days. He had forgotten that grief does not decline in a straight line or along a slow curve like a graph in a child's math book. Instead, it was almost as if his body contained a big pile of garden rubbish full both of heavy lumps of dirt and of sharp thorny brush that would stab him when he least expected it."


"You are a wise man, Major, and I will consider your advice with great care--and humility." He finished his tea and rose from the table to go to his room. "But I must ask you, do you really understand what it means to be in love with an unsuitable woman?"
"My dear boy," said the Major. "Is there really any other kind?"


"The world is full of small ignorances. We must all do our best to ignore them and thereby keep them small, don't you think?"