TIME TO BE IN EARNEST
P.D. James
Faber & Faber
Sub-titled A Fragment of Autobiography, and first published in 1999, this book has been re-issued now in commemoration of this splen- did woman whose influence extended into the culture, politics and media of the day.
PD James, who died aged 94 last year, was the grande dame of mystery writing. She was a link with the golden age of detective writing that flourished between the wars, the successor to Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham. On the day she turned 77, James decided to write a personal memoir in the form of a diary. Over the course of a year she set down not only the events of each day as well as impressions of her extremely active life, but also the memories, joys, discoveries and crises of a lifetime.
This well-written and engrossing, original volume is the result. – Sue Townsend