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Dorothy Sayers was born in Oxford, England on June 13, 1893. In her early years, she was educated by her parents and her governess. She achieved a higher education at Somerville College in 1912. Sayers was among the first of a group of women to be granted a degree in 1920. After college, she worked as a copywriter at Benson's Advertising Agency in London. While working here, she published her first novel, "Whose Body?", in 1923. A short period of time after her book was published, she left her job at Benson's Advertising Agency. She did not leave for literary fame and fortune however, she left to give birth to a child out of wedlock. The child's father was a working class man who was not acceptable for Sayers to marry. Rather than destroy her budding literary career, Sayers gave the child to her cousin to raise. After the birth of her son, Sayers helped to find the Detection Club in 1930. During this time, Sayers popularity continued to grow as she published a slew of short stories that featured her main character, Lord Peter Wimsey. While Sayers' literary prowess grew, she also attained popularity within the church of England. She acted as a spokeswoman for the church of England from the mid 1930s to her death. During her ascention to fame, Sayers married Captain Oswald Arthur "Mac" Fleming. Fleming suffered from physical and psychological damage that her obtained in World War II. The injuries Fleming suffered from WWII put a strain on the marriage. In 1934, Fleming and Sayers adopted Sayers' son that was born out of wedlock. However, the son continued to live with the cousin Sayers had given him to. The child never knew that he was actually Sayers' son until after her death. By 1937, Sayers had published more than a dozen books. She was recognized as one of England's best mystery writers. Sayers put an enormous amount of effort into the background information of her stories. She would research a place or event for months before she would write about it. After Sayers had created a small fortune for herself, she focused on translating Dante's "Diving Comedy". Sayers continued to write and publish short stories and novels up until her death. She died in Witham, Essex, England on December 17, 1957.

Liukkonen, Petri. "Dorothy L(eigh) Sayers". __Books and Writers.__ 2 May 2009. []


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