' "Old habits die hard. I will not promise to reform altogether. I shall, with your permission, continue to propose to you, at decently regulated intervals—as a birthday treat, and on Guy Fawkes Day and on the Anniversary of the King's Accession. But consider it, if you will, as a pure formality. You need not pay the smallest attention to it."
"Peter, it's foolish to go on like this."
"And, of course, on the Feast of All Fools." '
Dorothy Sayers
Gaudy Night
Dorothy Sayers is in my personal top 10, (along with P.G. Wodehouse, Gerald Durrell, Beverley Nichols and the aforementioned Josephine Tey). I actually would be hard put to it to provide anyone with a finite top 10, but these 5 writers would definitely make the cut.
It's been a surprisingly long time since I've read this book. Somehow I had subconsciously convinced myself that it was more recent. Perhaps that has to do with the superficial plot resemblance to Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes, which I have read relatively recently. Actually the plots are dissimilar, but the settings are reminiscent.
The quoted section above is wonderful piffle, but it's more than that. It purports to say nothing, while saying a great deal beneath the surface. That's characteristic of Sayer's work. It is richly layered. It is wonderful to discover new angles every time you come back to a story.
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