I was thrilled to check my email this morning and see an email from P.D. James! I had written to her in December after I had finished Death Comes to Pemberly. I had also written to her in 2000 after reading her Time to be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography resonated with me and had received a lovely letter in reply. I'm quite thrilled to have an email as well!
These are the only two letters I have written to any author as I feel they do quite enough for us with their writing and readings that I feel it rather greedy to expect replies to letters as well.
Dear Janice (if I may)
It was a great pleasure to receive your kind letter and I am delighted to have the bookmarks, of which I am always in need. They are beautiful and you obviously have a talent for painting which I am sure will give you pleasure and satisfaction in the years to come. I can’t believe that your mystery novel was tiresome drivel, but your art is so imaginative that I doubt you will wish to return to creative writing, but who knows?
I did enjoy writing Death Comes to Pemberley. I hope that Miss Austen wouldn’t be too offended by my efforts, but she has always been my favourite novelist and the book was intended as a tribute, and at least, unlike some sequels, it doesn’t feature ghosts, vampires, zombies or sexual shenanigans! The trial of Wickham was indeed a ‘long trial’, as my researches showed that the pressure on the courts was such that sometimes capital cases were dealt with at the Old Bailey within 15 minutes.
The world is in such a state that it seems almost cynical to wish anyone a happy New Year, but at least we can live in hope and, as Voltaire advised, ‘cultivate our own garden’. May yours flourish and be full of flowers in 2012.
Phyllis
My letter to Phyllis:
Dec. 16, 2011
Baroness James of Holland Park OBE
58 Holland Park Avenue
London W11 3QY
U.K.
Dear Baroness James,
I have just completed reading your delightful novel “Death Comes to Pemberley” and enjoyed it immensely. I want to thank you for giving your readers yet another wonderful and unexpected treat. I’m a big Jane Austen fan and I felt like I was also being given the gift of another Austen novel as well. Is it possible to be so blessed!
It was also most interesting to get an insight into the courts and legal system of the times. You did that very well and I still chuckle at the “long trial” of Wickham.
Writing is always hard work but I think you had a lot of fun writing this novel. Perhaps some would consider it a cheeky project and I’m not sure if Miss Austen would have totally approved but I know Elizabeth would have loved it and would have had many a good laugh and no doubt numerous witticisms to share.
I heard you read when you came to Victoria many years ago and it was such a pleasure to hear you answer questions from the audience. I go to many author readings and it is obvious that many authors dread the question period. However, you reacted to all questions with enthusiasm and made each questioner feel that she had asked exactly the question you wanted to answer and all responses were thoughtful and interesting.
I have enclosed a few bookmarks I hope you will enjoy using. Since I last wrote you in 2000 I have retired from teaching English and took up painting quite unexpectedly since I never got past doing stick figures in school. I had the idea I would write a mystery novel when I retired but could only produce tiresome drivel. With painting I had no expectations and was thrilled to produce anything at all and it gives me great pleasure. Funny how things turn out in life.
Sincerely,
Janice Sexton
