Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson
 
Retired & widowed Major Pettigrew's younger brother Bertie has just died. On leaving for the funeral, he meets on his doorstep, Mrs. Ali, proprietor of a local food market and an English-born Pakistani. She is visiting him on an errand, but, seeing that he is in great distress and feeling unwell, she offers to drive him to the funeral. A friendship gradually flowers, based initially on their common love of literature, especially Kipling. It is complicated by the Major's rather unpleasant son, Mrs. Ali's nephew who works in the market and wants her to give it to him, local race prejudice, and their own sense of what is right and proper for each of them. Things reach a crisis at an Indian (Mughal) themed party at the local club, to which the Major has escorted Mrs. Ali, and Mrs. Ali leaves town to go live with family elsewhere. Eventually, the Major is encouraged to go visit Mrs. Ali on his way north to Scotland for a hunting party. What he finds there causes a crisis and forces him to make a decision about Mrs. Ali, which leads to an incident that nearly costs him his life. A charming love story and social commentary.
-Nancy