Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy Sayers

Today is the birthday of Jill Paton Walsh, author of several good children’s and young adult novels. However, of even more interest, she is also the author of Thrones, Dominations a continuation of the Lord Peter Wimsey saga by Dorothy Sayers and based on notes Sayers kept for another Lord Peter novel. I have a copy of Thrones, Dominations, and I have read it and thought it was well done. Now I find in a visit to Walsh’s website that she has published another Lord Peter novel–A Presumption of Death. I also found this speech given by Walsh at The Dorothy L. Sayers Memorial Lecture in May 2002. In the speech Walsh talks about Lord Peter and Harriet Vane, the characters Walsh has “inherited” so to speak. She says something interesting about writing with someone else’s characters:

The point I am making is that if Peter is to remain himself, a recognisable person, continuous with the person we have come to know and love, then he must change. Married love will change him, fatherhood will change him, war will change him. There will be more Lord Peter, but no more of the same Lord Peter.

Definitely, for a series of books to continue to be interesting, the characters must change and “grow.” Is this true of real people also, of marriages? If the two people in a marriage stay exactly the same people that they were when they married, do they become bored with each other? Too much change and Lord Peter would be unrecognizable as Lord Peter. It seems we need just enough growth to keep it interesting. Is this one reason the Holy Spirit changes us, remakes us into Christ’s image, but slowly? Sometimes I seem to change so imperceptibly, and the pace is excruciatlingly slow. I am impatient. But I don’t want to become someone else. So, Lord, change me slowly, carefully, into the person you created me to be. Even in heaven, won’t there be change, growth, learning? Otherwise, heaven would be a slow death instead of life everlasting.
I’m looking forward to reading this new Lord Peter book by Jill Paton Walsh as one looks forward to a particularly favorite meal.

One thought on “Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy Sayers

  1. I love what you wrote about change here.
    Sometimes I get discouraged about the sin I still see in my life. Looking back and seeing where I came from and the slow inperceptible changes away from some of those besetting sins gives me encouragement that the Holy Spirit really is working in my life.
    Thank you for the link in your sidebar. I like what I see on your blog and am looking forward to more visits.

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