"At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest," wrote Samuel Johnson, and bestselling crime writer P.D. James took this maxim as a challenge, setting out to record "one year that otherwise might be lost." The result is a fascinating and reflective account, part diary and part memoir, of one very full year of Baroness James's life, interspersed with her memories and intelligent analysis of "what it was like to be born two years after the end of the First World War and to live for seventy-eight years in this tumultuous century." P.D. James grew up in Cambridge, England, between the wars and worked in the home office of the forensic and criminal justice departments, which sparked her interest in that area, though she did not become a published novelist until 1962 with Cover Her Face. She began to write full-time after her "retirement" in 1979, and along the way became a governor of the BBC before taking a seat in the House of Lords in 1991. Time to Be in Earnest is a lucid and penetrative work by one of the most influential figures currently involved with the arts in Britain. James reveals her vast scope for enjoyment, interest, and simply getting on with life (her husband, Connor White, died at the age of 44 in 1964 after years of mental illness), whether it be spending time with her children and grandchildren, musing on the hideous British architectural mistakes of the 1960s, or giving her view of the controversies continually surrounding the running of the BBC. At an age when many people would be considering slowing down, James seems constantly on the move, recording her day-to-day existence and her past with an alert and judicious eye. "I am sustained by the magnificent irrationality of faith," she states. "I inhabit a different body, but I can reach back over nearly 70 years and recognise her as myself. Then I walked in hope--and I do so still." --Catherine Taylor, Amazon.co.uk


From Publishers Weekly
James's fans will eagerly devour every word of this insightful and witty account of a year in the life of the master mystery author In the diary she began on her 77th birthday, in August 1997, James comfortably segues from daily activities into reminiscences about her childhood, early forays into writing and her career as a civil servant in Britain. She also weighs in on a variety of subjects, including the movie Titanic (the "usual Hollywood anti-British bias" irritated her), the publishing industry (promising novels are "promoted, packaged, and sold like a new perfume") and London's Millennial Dome, which inspired her "Dome Pome" (which begins, "O Dome Gigantic, Dome immense/ Built in defiance of common sense"). James reveals herself to be proper, dignified and reserved, but she doesn't reveal much more: readers expecting a traditional diary or spilled secrets are bound to be dissatisfied, though they can't say they weren't warned; in her prologue, James announces that she'll neither rehash painful memories nor record "the events of every day." The painful memories no doubt relate to her late husband's long battle with mental illness, which she mentions often but never fully explores. It's just as well she sticks to the latter promise, for while many of her activities will interest a wide range of readers, there are times when her musings do little to contradict her claim that she is simply "an elderly grandmother who writes traditional English detective fiction." 16 pages of photos not seen by PW. 50,000 first printing. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Keeping in mind the words of Samuel Johnson, "At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest," James decided to record feelings and observations about her world from her 77th to her 78th birthday. She wanted to capture the events, thoughts, and emotions of one year not only for her family but also as a record for herself. Much more than an account of day-to-day events though, she gives brief insights into what it was like to grow up in wartime England, her ideas about authors and the craft of writing, and the changes in the treatment of women. Mundane events such as catching the Oxford Tube mingle with more exciting activities such as book signing in Dallas. Readers looking for intimate revelations might be disappointed by the tone of her writing. In the prologue, she says, "There is much that I remember that is painful to dwell upon. I see no need to write about these things." And yet, as she speaks about her husband and his mental illness or the unhappiness of her parents' marriage, she doesn't gloss over some very sad moments. An enjoyable choice for fans of this British mystery writer.-Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In 1997, on the eve of her 77th birthday, noted mystery novelist James (A Certain Justice) decided to keep a diary for the first time ever, recording one year in her life. The result is this "fragment of autobiography," a mix of memoir, ruminations on everything from her writing career to Princess Diana's death, and literary criticism (James is a passionate admirer of Jane Austen and includes in an appendix a speech she gave to the Jane Austen Society on "Emma Considered as a Detective Story"). While James confesses to loving gossip in other people's diaries, she admits that her own has "little to offer in the way of titillating revelations." Although her discretion about the painful periods in her life (in particular, her husband's mental illness) is admirable in this Age of Indecent Exposure, it also makes for an impersonal and rather dull diary. The reader never gets a sense of the true James and the events that shaped her as a writer and human being. For larger collections.-DWilda Williams, "Library Journal" Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
You'll have a hard time believing that it's not P.D. James speaking here, so precisely does June Barrie's mature voice and delivery match what the celebrated British mystery writer says about herself. Using the device of a yearlong diary as a jumping-off point, the 70-something James highlights various events in her busy life and, in turn, uses those events as a springboard to discuss milestones in her personal history or to air her views on everything from the future of the BBC to the outcome of many of England's best-known murder trials. James and Barrie are by turn witty, outspoken, cautionary, peevish, and informative. One senses a lively intellect and great strength of purpose here. A lady who lives largely amid the public, on tour and at dinners with legions of notables, she nevertheless treasures her privacy. Her irritation at noisy restaurants and intrusive cell phones is as obvious as her desire not to dwell on her husband's mental illness and early death. James, like most writers, is sensitive to others' interpretations of her work. One hopes she likes this excellent reading--and Barrie is forgiven for mispronouncing "Houston." J.B.G. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
When James turned 77 in 1997 (the age that Samuel Johnson considered "a time to be in earnest"), she decided to keep a diary for one year. She uses the format as a launching pad, moving from the events of the day (a dizzying parade of speeches, promotional tours, and charitable activities) to reminiscences about her life and reflections on her craft. Her fans will find both to be of great interest, whether she is describing the birth of her daughter during a V1 rocket attack on London or musing on the difficulties of adapting crime fiction to television. Her discussion of her first career as a bureaucrat in the British Health Service and Home Office is especially fascinating; James is one writer who speaks of her prewriting labors not with derision but with both humility and respect. Although she largely avoids revelations of a deeply personal nature, she does describe, in quiet but moving terms, the difficult process of nursing her late husband through years of mental illness. A charming, low-key look at the daily life of a fine writer and a remarkable woman. Bill Ott


Review
"Deeply moving . . . Page after page recalls a vanished world."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A CORNUCOPIA OF DISCERNMENT, JUDGMENT, AND WISDOM."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"James neither overintellectualizes nor sentimentalizes. . . . Writing about commonplace events, [she] gives them weight and substance and so confirms their reality, investing them with a radiance that illuminates this fragment of autobiography."
--The Washington Post


Review
"Deeply moving . . . Page after page recalls a vanished world."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A CORNUCOPIA OF DISCERNMENT, JUDGMENT, AND WISDOM."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"James neither overintellectualizes nor sentimentalizes. . . . Writing about commonplace events, [she] gives them weight and substance and so confirms their reality, investing them with a radiance that illuminates this fragment of autobiography."
--The Washington Post

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 1997, P. D. James decided to undertake a book unlike any she had written before: a personal memoir in the form of a diary. Structured as the diary of a single year, it roams back and forth through time, illuminating James's extraordinary, sometimes painful and sometimes joyful life." "Here, interwoven with reflections on her writing career and the craft of crime novels, are vivid accounts of episodes in her own past - of school days in 1920s and 1930s Cambridge ... of the war and the tragedy of her husband's madness ... of her determined struggle to support a family alone. She tells about the birth of her second daughter in the midst of a German buzz-bomb attack; about becoming a civil servant (and laying the groundwork for her writing career by working in the criminal justice system); about her years of public service on such bodies as the Arts Council and the BBC's Board of Governors, culminating in entry to the House of Lords. Along the way, she offers views on everything from author tours to the problems of television adaptations, from book reviewing to her obsession with Jane Austen.

SYNOPSIS

This crafter of taut, resonant dissections of the dark side of the human heart here turns the examining lens on her own story. The fragmentaion noted in the title refers to the device James uses: snatches of memory, flashes of anecdote, glimpses into her own process and predilections are laid out in diary entries over the course of a year. The book includes b&w photos and the text of a paper James gave in 1998 on Jane Austen's as a detective story. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

In 1997, on the eve of her 77th birthday, noted mystery novelist James (A Certain Justice) decided to keep a diary for the first time ever, recording one year in her life. The result is this "fragment of autobiography," a mix of memoir, ruminations on everything from her writing career to Princess Diana's death, and literary criticism (James is a passionate admirer of Jane Austen and includes in an appendix a speech she gave to the Jane Austen Society on "Emma Considered as a Detective Story"). While James confesses to loving gossip in other people's diaries, she admits that her own has "little to offer in the way of titillating revelations." Although her discretion about the painful periods in her life (in particular, her husband's mental illness) is admirable in this Age of Indecent Exposure, it also makes for an impersonal and rather dull diary. The reader never gets a sense of the true James and the events that shaped her as a writer and human being. For larger collections.[Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/00.]--Wilda Williams, "Library Journal" Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Keeping in mind the words of Samuel Johnson, "At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest," James decided to record feelings and observations about her world from her 77th to her 78th birthday. She wanted to capture the events, thoughts, and emotions of one year not only for her family but also as a record for herself. Much more than an account of day-to-day events though, she gives brief insights into what it was like to grow up in wartime England, her ideas about authors and the craft of writing, and the changes in the treatment of women. Mundane events such as catching the Oxford Tube mingle with more exciting activities such as book signing in Dallas. Readers looking for intimate revelations might be disappointed by the tone of her writing. In the prologue, she says, "There is much that I remember that is painful to dwell upon. I see no need to write about these things." And yet, as she speaks about her husband and his mental illness or the unhappiness of her parents' marriage, she doesn't gloss over some very sad moments. An enjoyable choice for fans of this British mystery writer.-Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Tony Gibbs - Islands

...The best thing about this enexpectedly magical volume is the way in which its author embodies her country at its best, for this is, at bottom, a book about England, past and present.

Maddox - The New York Times Book Review

[A] delicately constructed memoir . . . This book is no septuagenarian's exercise in nostalgia. . . . Her diary's deft, light touch covers a stark moral philosophy. . . . deeply moving, and all too short.

Tony Gibbs - Islands Magazine