Monday 3 August will mark what would have been the 100th birthday of P. D. James, whom Faber published for over fifty years following the publication of her first novel, Cover Her Face, in 1962.

In celebration of this centenary, Faber will publish, for the first time in book form, her short story ‘The Part-Time Job’, which Editorial Director Angus Cargill described as ‘an ingenious, dark-treat of a story’:

I’m so pleased we will be bringing it to light in this way. While it didn’t quite fit in the seasonally themed collections The Mistletoe Murders or Sleep No More, it’s something of a die-hard fan favourite, and will thrill and surprise those who haven’t been able to read it before.

P. D. James – awarded an OBE in 1983 and made a life peer in 1991 – was the bestselling, internationally acclaimed author of eighteen crime novels including the Adam Dalgliesh and  Cordelia Gray series, The Children of Men and two posthumously published collections of short stories. She won numerous awards for crime writing, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing.

Faber will commemorate P. D. James’s centenary year with a year-long celebration of her work, sharing archive content with the hashtag #PDJames100, engaging with her fans via the official Facebook page and website as well as providing bookshops with exclusive POS materials.

Stephen Page, Chief Executive of Faber & Faber, said:

The prospect of finding new readers for P. D. James’s extraordinary body of work while celebrating her talent and lasting relevance is a thrilling undertaking for us. The fact that her novels, now modern classics, remain compelling and deeply involving is testament to her singular literary talent.