“I have no doubt that the more we get to know and understand her, the more we will appreciate and comprehend her works.”

Dorothy L. Sayers is one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating women.

The daughter of a clergyman, Sayers became one of the first female Oxford graduates.

Among the great detective writers, Sayers was also a religious thinker and medieval scholar.

Her personal life was full of scandal and secrets. Living unmarried with her lover Sayer bore a child by another man.

Leaving her son to be raised by others, Sayer posed as ‘Cousin Dorothy’ until the day she could officially ‘adopt’ him.

But what effect did this have on their relationship?

Using her access to Dorothy L. Sayers’ papers and photographs and her own memories of her subject, Barbara Reynolds has written the most readable and the most definitive biography to date of this fascinating woman.The Sunday TimesHere is a woman with a gift for both work and joy bursting the chrysalis of a conventional upbringing, coming to terms with the physical as well as the emotional and intellectual problems of being a woman in a traditional society that was evolving with disconcerting speed … Reynolds has made the most of personal knowledge and access to Sayers’ letters.