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Dorothy L. Sayers: A Biography: Death, Dante and Lord Peter Wimsey
Dorothy L Sayers was a woman of contrasts. A strong Christian, she had a baby by a man she did not love - out of wedlock. Possessing a fierce intellect, she translated Dante - and also created one of the most popular fictional detectives ever, in Lord Peter Wimsey. With no new biographies on Sayers having been published for some time, Colin Duriez reassesses her, her life, her writings, her studies and her faith. Drawing on previously unpublished material, particularly her collected letters, he brings to life a fascinating woman.
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Published November 16, 2021
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About the author
Colin Duriez
38 books53 followersColin Duriez is an English writer and scholar best known for his work on the Inklings, the literary circle that included C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams. Born in Derbyshire in 1947, he moved to Leicester in 1983 to work as a commissioning editor for the publisher IVP. Over the years he has combined editorial work with teaching, and in 2002 he established his own business, InWriting, in Keswick, Cumbria, providing writing and editorial services as well as book acquisition for publishers.
Winner of the Clyde S. Kilby Award in 1994 for his research on the Inklings, Duriez has been praised as one of the most valuable contemporary scholars on Lewis. His numerous books explore the lives, friendships, and imaginative worlds of Lewis and Tolkien, including Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Shadow of Evil, The Oxford Inklings, and Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. His work has been lauded for accessibility, scholarly insight, and fresh perspectives.
Duriez has also appeared in television documentaries such as A Quest for Meaning – Myth, Imagination & Faith in the Literature of J. R. R. Tolkien & C. S. Lewis. He lives in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
Winner of the Clyde S. Kilby Award in 1994 for his research on the Inklings, Duriez has been praised as one of the most valuable contemporary scholars on Lewis. His numerous books explore the lives, friendships, and imaginative worlds of Lewis and Tolkien, including Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Shadow of Evil, The Oxford Inklings, and Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. His work has been lauded for accessibility, scholarly insight, and fresh perspectives.
Duriez has also appeared in television documentaries such as A Quest for Meaning – Myth, Imagination & Faith in the Literature of J. R. R. Tolkien & C. S. Lewis. He lives in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
July 18, 2023
Fascinating look at DL Sayers. Well written as are all Duriez’s books that I have read so far. Read well typo by Simon Vance.
August 1, 2023
Really fascinating to read this and have finished it a day after I finished The Divine Comedy. Did you know she died right after she had translated the last Canto of Paradise!? Wow. I’m so glad God waited until then to take her. Now to read her translation of The Divine Comedy and all her fantastic notes.
I definitely want to read more by her and will look into her plays since C. S. Lewis loved them so much. 💕
I definitely want to read more by her and will look into her plays since C. S. Lewis loved them so much. 💕
September 24, 2022
A very well-written bio of Sayers. Honest but not sensationalized. The author appears to admire her without turning it into a hagiography. Her story is told chronologically and includes all the stories, friends, colleagues, and family that influenced her along the way. Dorothy Sayers was a deeply spiritual woman who spent her life exploring matters of faith and the reality of being human and ways of communicating those ideas. I wish I had just a smidgen of her brilliance, heart, and spirit.
March 30, 2021
Review forthcoming!
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December 26, 2024Audiobook.
I'm convinced I need to move The Mind of the Maker up my TBR list..
.
I'm convinced I need to move The Mind of the Maker up my TBR list..
.
November 30, 2021
Duriez, Colin. Dorothy L. Sayers: A Biography: Death, Dante, and Lord Peter Wimsey. Lion Books, 2021.
Alas, she was unlucky in love. Colin Duriez praises his subject’s obvious talent, yet he does not shy away from the troubling parts of her life. Dorothy Sayers was one of the first women to get a degree from Oxford. She then demonstrated skill in advertising and later found herself alongside Agatha Christie as one of the leading lights of detective fiction. That’s higher praise than one might realize at first. This was the golden age of detective fiction, and Agatha Christie herself considered Sayers to be the top of the game (and one of the last moments of good English prose before the horror of postmodernism). If one wants to model good, yet current prose style, then Dorothy Sayers is worth reading.
She had a relatively stable Christian upbringing. One questions how seriously to take her claims of teenage agnosticism. They could be true, but that also seems to be a trope in Christian biography. She wanted to be loved, not unlike the fundamentalist girl going to Bible college. Her first was with a Jewish agnostic, yet she broke it off when he said he didn’t believe in the institution of marriage or children. That was a good move on her part, but it never should have gotten there.
The next love interest, Bill White, the man with whom she would be with child, is more of Sayers’ fault. It’s not simply that she had a child out of wedlock with him. She didn’t realize he was already married. Don’t counselors say that communication is the basis of a relationship?
She did get married to a WWI veteran. I don’t see how it was a happy marriage with his declining health and PTSD. No doubt they had some happy moments. Duriez doesn’t actually report any of them. She was able to adopt her son and by all accounts had a good relationship with him, something not always possible when bringing a pre-teen into one’s household.
It is during Sayers’ early years that Duriez comments on her approach to knowledge. Knowledge should be sought as an integrated unity. This allowed Sayers to later perfect her so-called “classical model.” (In terms of historical facts, it is no such thing. It should be called a “Neo-Medieval” model. There is much to commend it. My only issue is that its practitioners act like they’ve discovered Atlantis.) Her comments on foreign languages and Latin merit repeated study.
Sayers’s most notable creation is the amateur sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey. In many ways, Sayers created an entity she couldn’t control. The queen of detective fiction, Agatha Christie, absolutely praised the Lord Wimsey novels. Sayers, however, had introduced a love interest into the story. This alienated her fans. It’s an interesting phenomenon. On one hand, none of her later novels have the “punch” of the early Wimsey novels. On the other hand, some later novels like Gaudy Night are technically near-perfect. I like Gaudy Night, but I don’t enjoy it.
I think the problem is that Wimsey is a force of nature (and this force is multiplied if you listen to the Ian Carmichael audio narrations). With Wimsey comes his manservant, Bunter. Bunter is like Wodehouse’s Jeeves. And in some novels we meet Wimsey’s mother, the Duchess, who is an absolute delight. By the time that Sayers introduced Harriet Vane into the world, Bunter and the Duchess, and in some respects Wimsey himself, take a back seat. That’s a high price to pay for literary perfection.
My only criticism of the biography is that I wish Duriez had spent more time on Dante and less on Sayers’s plays.
Alas, she was unlucky in love. Colin Duriez praises his subject’s obvious talent, yet he does not shy away from the troubling parts of her life. Dorothy Sayers was one of the first women to get a degree from Oxford. She then demonstrated skill in advertising and later found herself alongside Agatha Christie as one of the leading lights of detective fiction. That’s higher praise than one might realize at first. This was the golden age of detective fiction, and Agatha Christie herself considered Sayers to be the top of the game (and one of the last moments of good English prose before the horror of postmodernism). If one wants to model good, yet current prose style, then Dorothy Sayers is worth reading.
She had a relatively stable Christian upbringing. One questions how seriously to take her claims of teenage agnosticism. They could be true, but that also seems to be a trope in Christian biography. She wanted to be loved, not unlike the fundamentalist girl going to Bible college. Her first was with a Jewish agnostic, yet she broke it off when he said he didn’t believe in the institution of marriage or children. That was a good move on her part, but it never should have gotten there.
The next love interest, Bill White, the man with whom she would be with child, is more of Sayers’ fault. It’s not simply that she had a child out of wedlock with him. She didn’t realize he was already married. Don’t counselors say that communication is the basis of a relationship?
She did get married to a WWI veteran. I don’t see how it was a happy marriage with his declining health and PTSD. No doubt they had some happy moments. Duriez doesn’t actually report any of them. She was able to adopt her son and by all accounts had a good relationship with him, something not always possible when bringing a pre-teen into one’s household.
It is during Sayers’ early years that Duriez comments on her approach to knowledge. Knowledge should be sought as an integrated unity. This allowed Sayers to later perfect her so-called “classical model.” (In terms of historical facts, it is no such thing. It should be called a “Neo-Medieval” model. There is much to commend it. My only issue is that its practitioners act like they’ve discovered Atlantis.) Her comments on foreign languages and Latin merit repeated study.
Sayers’s most notable creation is the amateur sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey. In many ways, Sayers created an entity she couldn’t control. The queen of detective fiction, Agatha Christie, absolutely praised the Lord Wimsey novels. Sayers, however, had introduced a love interest into the story. This alienated her fans. It’s an interesting phenomenon. On one hand, none of her later novels have the “punch” of the early Wimsey novels. On the other hand, some later novels like Gaudy Night are technically near-perfect. I like Gaudy Night, but I don’t enjoy it.
I think the problem is that Wimsey is a force of nature (and this force is multiplied if you listen to the Ian Carmichael audio narrations). With Wimsey comes his manservant, Bunter. Bunter is like Wodehouse’s Jeeves. And in some novels we meet Wimsey’s mother, the Duchess, who is an absolute delight. By the time that Sayers introduced Harriet Vane into the world, Bunter and the Duchess, and in some respects Wimsey himself, take a back seat. That’s a high price to pay for literary perfection.
My only criticism of the biography is that I wish Duriez had spent more time on Dante and less on Sayers’s plays.
April 4, 2025
Short and interesting. Kind of like bullet points. I didn’t know about the detection club and GK Chesterton being its first president! Seeing Lewis and Charles Williams from the perspective of Sayers’ life shed a whole new light on them for me. Hangs with the book club will never live up to what was a mini literary renaissance with these legends at the center.
February 14, 2022
This book was quite the slog to get through. The text was dull and repetitive. If one wants the bare facts of Dorothy L. Sayers's life, I suppose one can do worse (though I truly cannot imagine *how*!)
May 19, 2024
Learn some new things and thought it was well done.
Read
November 24, 2025Great book. Not too long to give you a good introduction to Dorothy L. Sayers, but still want to learn more. I appreciated his numerous references to other books of reference also.
May 4, 2024
Dorothy Sayers is talked a lot in the Classical homeschool
Community especially because of her essay The Lost Tools
Of Learning which I reread every year. I also really enjoy her murder mysteries. I wanted to know more about this woman and this biography was fascinating. She was a very complex woman and I appreciate her works even more now having spend time “getting to know” her through this book.
Community especially because of her essay The Lost Tools
Of Learning which I reread every year. I also really enjoy her murder mysteries. I wanted to know more about this woman and this biography was fascinating. She was a very complex woman and I appreciate her works even more now having spend time “getting to know” her through this book.
October 13, 2021
On this foggy Autumn morning here in Black Mountain, North Carolina, I finished my friend Colin Duriez 's incredible biography on the eccentric and brilliant writer Dorothy L. Sayers.
The signed copy Colin gave to me was a birthday gift when I was in England recently. The book gives me the desire to read everything Sayers wrote, her translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, and brings back good memories of being in Oxford with Colin and his brilliant storyteller wife Cindy Zudys .
When I was in England, Colin was kind enough to ask me to sign his copy of my book Surprised By Agape, and we got a good picture outside of Sayers home in Oxford holding our books. Colin is an incredible scholar and writer, and I recommend any of his books!
The signed copy Colin gave to me was a birthday gift when I was in England recently. The book gives me the desire to read everything Sayers wrote, her translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, and brings back good memories of being in Oxford with Colin and his brilliant storyteller wife Cindy Zudys .
When I was in England, Colin was kind enough to ask me to sign his copy of my book Surprised By Agape, and we got a good picture outside of Sayers home in Oxford holding our books. Colin is an incredible scholar and writer, and I recommend any of his books!
January 7, 2023
I listened to the audio book narrated by Simon Vance. It was very easy to listen to while doing house work.
Having little knowledge of Sayers (I've never read her books and have not read any biographies or her letters) I found this a very good introductory biography. It gives you a pretty good sketch with interesting details and commentary about her life, character, and work.
Considering the amount of letters now available in special collections between Sayers and various companions of hers, I was hoping for more direct quotes from Sayers and her friends. I did listen, not read, so perhaps there was more than I remember. But it seems much more commentary about Sayers than actual quotes.
The author would also make statements about Sayers religion and faith, but I found myself unsure what Sayers convictions were. It is a much clearer picture of her intellectual life than her religious life.
Overall, very good introductory work to a person who lived in an interesting time, place, and among notable contemporaries. A great diving board for further resources. I did find myself wanting to know more about Ivy Shrimpton, Sayers' cousin who raised Sayers illegitimate son. That is a biography I think I would enjoy.
Having little knowledge of Sayers (I've never read her books and have not read any biographies or her letters) I found this a very good introductory biography. It gives you a pretty good sketch with interesting details and commentary about her life, character, and work.
Considering the amount of letters now available in special collections between Sayers and various companions of hers, I was hoping for more direct quotes from Sayers and her friends. I did listen, not read, so perhaps there was more than I remember. But it seems much more commentary about Sayers than actual quotes.
The author would also make statements about Sayers religion and faith, but I found myself unsure what Sayers convictions were. It is a much clearer picture of her intellectual life than her religious life.
Overall, very good introductory work to a person who lived in an interesting time, place, and among notable contemporaries. A great diving board for further resources. I did find myself wanting to know more about Ivy Shrimpton, Sayers' cousin who raised Sayers illegitimate son. That is a biography I think I would enjoy.
July 16, 2024
I've always loved Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane novels, and by extension her creation of that prototypically effete gentleman detective of the interwar years: Lord Peter Wimsey.
From that perspective, I really enjoyed this short intellectual biography of the author. Duriez has also written about J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and he provides lots of great context to Sayers' friendships with these important fantasy writers and their group of "Inklings." He also provides some discussion of Sayers' work with the Detection Club (although I would have loved a bit more detail on this).
Duriez characterizes Sayers as quite conflicted as she faced complex moral choices in how to live her life as an interwar feminist with a strong Christian faith. Again, I would have loved a more historicized approach to his discussion of her feminism. I was very satisfied by his discussion of her love of language, as evidenced by her passion for producing a verse translation of Dante.
I wouldn't recommend this as a first book into understanding the life and legacy of Sayers. But it goes very nicely with the other biographies.
The audiobook, narrated by the inimitable Simon Vance, is outstanding.
From that perspective, I really enjoyed this short intellectual biography of the author. Duriez has also written about J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and he provides lots of great context to Sayers' friendships with these important fantasy writers and their group of "Inklings." He also provides some discussion of Sayers' work with the Detection Club (although I would have loved a bit more detail on this).
Duriez characterizes Sayers as quite conflicted as she faced complex moral choices in how to live her life as an interwar feminist with a strong Christian faith. Again, I would have loved a more historicized approach to his discussion of her feminism. I was very satisfied by his discussion of her love of language, as evidenced by her passion for producing a verse translation of Dante.
I wouldn't recommend this as a first book into understanding the life and legacy of Sayers. But it goes very nicely with the other biographies.
The audiobook, narrated by the inimitable Simon Vance, is outstanding.
December 22, 2023
I learned much from this biography. Sayers illustrates how life can be both beautiful and broken. Duriez didn't tabloidize her secret child; but it was obvious that she felt great dollops of shame, fear, love, and yearning.
I've long wanted to read through all the Lord Peter books in order, and this biography fuels that desire. Knowing DLS better will make me a more observant reader.
[Personal aside: I can hear my sister Margo (1948-2016) circa 1977, over the phone rhapsodizing about Sayers' detective novels. "Carol! You *have not* read Lord Peter Wimsey?! He is the BEST!"]
Lately in my reading, I've basked in the luminous brilliant minds of Dorothy L. Sayers, Dame Rebecca West and Elisabeth Elliot; read about their insatiable hunger to learn and to think deep thoughts. It inspires me to cultivate my intellect and to embrace challenging books.
So often has Simon Vance has narrated my 2023 audio books, that I'm beginning to think of him as a friend.
I've long wanted to read through all the Lord Peter books in order, and this biography fuels that desire. Knowing DLS better will make me a more observant reader.
[Personal aside: I can hear my sister Margo (1948-2016) circa 1977, over the phone rhapsodizing about Sayers' detective novels. "Carol! You *have not* read Lord Peter Wimsey?! He is the BEST!"]
Lately in my reading, I've basked in the luminous brilliant minds of Dorothy L. Sayers, Dame Rebecca West and Elisabeth Elliot; read about their insatiable hunger to learn and to think deep thoughts. It inspires me to cultivate my intellect and to embrace challenging books.
So often has Simon Vance has narrated my 2023 audio books, that I'm beginning to think of him as a friend.
February 4, 2023
Not much going on here
I like biographies; getting to know about an author can add a lot to a work of fiction. This biography? Not so much. I see Sayers had a happy childhood, a son out of wedlock when that was considered important, a decent college education, and oh yes, wore wigs because her hair was thin. So?
Didn't find out much ABOUT HER that could explain her views, beliefs, why and really who she was.
I like biographies; getting to know about an author can add a lot to a work of fiction. This biography? Not so much. I see Sayers had a happy childhood, a son out of wedlock when that was considered important, a decent college education, and oh yes, wore wigs because her hair was thin. So?
Didn't find out much ABOUT HER that could explain her views, beliefs, why and really who she was.
December 25, 2025
I have only read a couple of Sayers books, but have been keen to read more and find out more about her. So when I found this as an audio on Everand, I was delighted to listen! It’s a lovely mix of personal and literary biography, and it has had the delightful effect of adding more of Sayers to my ‘26 TBR list ☺️
Dorothy L Sayers: A Biography: Death, Dante and Lord Peter Wimsey // Colin Duriez 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dorothy L Sayers: A Biography: Death, Dante and Lord Peter Wimsey // Colin Duriez 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 17, 2022
As a lover of Sayers, I am always on the lookout for a good biography and this one is excellent. It is imminently readable and delves into Sayer's life and writings in a way that connects all aspects of her life. This biography is a must read for fans of Sayers. Duriez is such an excellent author and scholar, that I would recommend all of his biographies.
January 8, 2023
This is was a good introduction to Dorothy L. Sayers. However, the author repeats things frequently giving the impression that his research/knowledge is shallow. This combined with odd sentence structure in places left me wondering if the book was written hastily. I have Duriez's book on The Inklings and I'm curious if this his style or if that book has a different quality to it. Time will tell.
March 15, 2023
This is a decent but limited biography on a formidable woman. I admire Sayers more for having read it- especially the second half of the book. I felt that the structure of the book, while loosely chronological, jumped around a bit. It made me want to read another biography of her, though, as well as her translation of Dante, so that’s a good thing!
July 21, 2021
A better general overview of Sayers life than other Sayers biographies I've read, and a good resource for understanding the Inklings connections (friendship w/ Charles Williams, CS Lewis, common themes, etc)
August 18, 2022
I enjoyed this very readable biography of Dorothy Sayers and appreciated the focus on her work and passions. She was a private person, and the author seems to appreciate that fact well as he writes about her life.
November 30, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this biography. As someone who has loved the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and Sayers’ radio play The Man Born to the King, and is familiar with The Lost Tools of Learning essay and Sayers’ friendship with CS Lewis, this book was like getting better acquainted with a friend.
February 13, 2023
An excellent biography with minimal commentary and no sensationalism. Mr. Duriez's story of Sayers life is an engaging, straightforward, and compassionate treatment of a fascinating woman. Highly recommended.
March 19, 2022
This would be a great read if you're looking for a brief introductory biography on DLS, but it doesn't add much on the work that has already been done by Barbara Reynolds and others.
October 5, 2022
Another very informative book about a writer in the set of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.
February 9, 2023
Since I have heard so much about Sayers, when I saw this audio book, I decided to find out more about her. I had just read a biography of Agatha Christie so I tend to mix them up. She was very intelligent. I don't know much about her faith but apparently it was very strong. She had a radio broadcast about Jesus during WW2, kind of like what CS Lewis did.
She had a son, but I guess few knew that during her life. A cousin raised the boy and then D and her husband adopted him.
So glad she was given that degree from Oxford. She and all those other women deserved it. A good cultural change.
She had a son, but I guess few knew that during her life. A cousin raised the boy and then D and her husband adopted him.
So glad she was given that degree from Oxford. She and all those other women deserved it. A good cultural change.
April 24, 2023
This book is a clear, succint overview of the life of Sayers. I recommend it to anyone interested in an introduction to the author.
August 19, 2023
Very good, would definitely recommend, I only wish it had been longer (a little more detailed).
November 1, 2023
I decided not to be a teacher several years ago, but books like this weaken my resolve. I want to be like Dorothy Sayers when I grow up.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews