MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND

Life in the English village of Edgecombe St. Mary is predictably picturesque and provincial. Local resident Major Ernest Pettigrew is a man of conscience and strong opinions, a man whose good acts are born of good breeding and good manners. When his younger brother dies suddenly, 67-year-old widower Pettigrew’s quiet country life is disrupted. Narrator Peter Altschuler is stuffy, gruff, and completely endearing as the Major wrestles with his grief over losing his brother, his conflicted responses to his clueless son, his covetousness for a pair of valuable guns, and his unexpected feelings for his neighbor, Mrs. Jasmina Ali. Helen Simonson’s droll comments on family, religion, small-town small-mindedness, and intercultural romance combined with Altschuler’s wry, amusing performance transports listeners directly into the English countryside. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2010]