A woman with a cause or two

P.D. James has already said a great deal about her love of Austen, her love of the mystery genre and her new book Death Comes to Pemberley. She was in London earlier this evening, talking again about how her enthusiasms became manifest in a book. She is a self-effacing and hugely erudite speaker; a natural raconteur, you might say. Few authors could offer a more thoughtful analysis of the art of fiction, but the evening was memorable for her personal reminiscences.

James embodies the sweep of very nearly a century of British political and cultural life. When asked to reflect on 50 years in print, she said: “England has changed. Everything has changed. Extraordinary.” She first read Pride and Prejudice “aged eight or nine at Sunday school, which we all went to in those days to give our parents a restful afternoon”. Austen’s novels stayed with her through the Second World War.