Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Sample
  • Dorothy L. Sayers

  • A Biography: Death, Dante and Lord Peter Wimsey
  • By: Colin Duriez
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Dorothy L. Sayers

By: Colin Duriez
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

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 Drawing on previously unpublished material, particularly her collected letters, he brings to life a fascinating woman.

©2021 Colin Duriez (P)2021 Oasis Audio
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

C.S. Lewis cover art
J.R.R. Tolkien cover art
The Oxford Inklings cover art
Hide-and-Seek with Angels cover art
Lord Peter Wimsey: BBC Radio Drama Collection Volume 1 cover art
Constellation of Genius cover art
The Jane Austen Remedy cover art
Simply Dirac cover art
The Power of Adrienne Rich cover art
Love Unknown cover art
Jane Austen: A Life from Beginning to End cover art
A Third Class Murder cover art
The Man Born to Be King cover art
Cecil Beaton cover art
The Man in the Queue cover art
Agatha Christie’s Poirot cover art

What listeners say about Dorothy L. Sayers

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very decent human being who had more than her fair share of challenges

I grew up watching tv drama productions of Lord Peter Wolsey. But have only recently started to read the books of D.L.S. She has become one of my favorite writers, her characters are well rounded and multi faceted. She is never patronizing and always follows through. I enjoyed listening to this book immensely. It gave me a fuller picture of a writer whom I already admired.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not quite what I was looking for.

Miss Sayers was an extremely private person. So I imagine the author, despite access to her letters and a semi biographical unfinished novel, had great trouble finding anything new to add to the picture of a fascinating woman. More detail of her obsession with Dante would have been excellent to help explain her abandonment of detective fiction writing. Nor did I get any real sense of the religious zeal which was behind her later writings. The narration was uninspiring not helped by the author’s skipping around the time line. Great for a general overview but do not expect to learn much in depth of the life of Miss Sayers.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Informational but not engaging

Thorough in its telling and provides interesting insight into events but decidedly lacking in dramatic engagement. While one doesn’t seek disingenuous exaggeration or extrapolation in biography, the narrative feels dry and one is left wanting more of the human emotion of significant events. Perhaps the primary evidence isn’t there but that seems unlikely in the face of such a prolific author and letter-writer.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!