The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers

September 15, 2018
Though arguably best known for her 12 mystery novels featuring amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, Sayers was also a prodigious and serious wordsmith, the author of plays, letters, essays, lectures, and a highly regarded translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. That she was a Christian apologist � la C. S. Lewis (whose Appreciation concludes this volume) is made manifest by Vanderhoof in this generous selection of excerpts from Sayers' wide-ranging work, all of which is informed by Gospel themes such as conscience, sin and grace, covetousness, pride, despair and hope, and much more. As a result, Sayers' post-Wimsey reputation as an apologist grew, to her chagrin, for by then she regarded herself as a playwright. Altogether, Vanderhoof offers 20 generous selections from the work?actually more, since each major selection is accompanied by subselections; thus, an excerpt from the Wimsey novel Strong Poison is accompanied by an early poem and a lengthy magazine article titled Forgiveness and the Enemy. This multifaceted volume is sure to expand Sayers' reputation, not only as a writer but also as a thinker.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)