In the pretty, ever-so-English village of Edgecombe St Mary, the Major is about to become the central player in a deliciously amusing comedy of manners.

The local shopkeeper, Mrs Ali, is the first living thing to make contact with the stunned Major, who is still grappling with the news of his loss.

As a widow, Mrs Ali shares with the Major an intimate knowledge of grief and calmly takes him in hand.

There’s not many common threads to bind a frightfully British Major and a hard working Pakistani shop keeper, but as they bumble into a friendship they find they share a fondness of literature and have similar beliefs in the things that matter most.

No stuffy old goat, the Major is an ageing pillar of correctness. Erudite, polite and just a little lonely, the modern world and its skewed values sometimes leave him momentarily baffled. Even the sullen waitresses at the local golf club cause some consternation.

“Many seemed to suffer from disease of holes in the face and it had taken the Major some time to work out that club rules required the young women to remove all jewellery and that the holes were piercings bereft of decoration.”

Major Pettigrew has broad appeal and fans of British humour will lap this up with delight. It’s an entertaining blend of the sinking of the upper classes, the clambering of the middle classes and the deterioration of standards.

Edgecombe St Mary is a bustling little village, peopled with highly visible local characters.

There’s not one dull moment in this wonderfully warm and human story of late love blossoming despite the strangulation of convention, family, friends and society at large.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

By Helen Simonson

(Allen & Unwin, RRP $32.99)