So up until about a year ago I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. Gaudy Night is definitely the peak of the romance. However, rereading Busman’s Honeymoon was a surprisingly moving experience now that I’m a 40-something in a long-term relationship. What had struck me as annoying in my teens and twenties became a sympathetic portrait of trying to maintain your identity in a highly constricted social role, and I could finally read some of Peter’s behavior for what it is - not glib eccentricity but PTSD and all that it produces. It’s almost uncomfortable reading at times, but it feels personal to Sayers and thus very human.
So up until about a year ago I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. Gaudy Night is definitely the peak of the romance. However, rereading Busman’s Honeymoon was a surprisingly moving experience now that I’m a 40-something in a long-term relationship. What had struck me as annoying in my teens and twenties became a sympathetic portrait of trying to maintain your identity in a highly constricted social role, and I could finally read some of Peter’s behavior for what it is - not glib eccentricity but PTSD and all that it produces. It’s almost uncomfortable reading at times, but it feels personal to Sayers and thus very human.
This is really good to know. Thanks for sharing this.