The Christie Affair
By Nina de Gramont
Blurb
In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days. Only I know the truth of her disappearance.
I’m no Hercule Poirot.
I’m her husband’s mistress.
Agatha Christie’s world is one of glamorous society parties, country house weekends, and growing literary fame.
Nan O’Dea’s world is something very different. Her attempts to escape a tough London upbringing during the Great War led to a life in Ireland marred by a hidden tragedy.
After fighting her way back to England, she’s set her sights on Agatha. Because Agatha Christie has something Nan wants. And it’s not just her husband.
Despite their differences, the two women will become the most unlikely of allies. And during the mysterious eleven days that Agatha goes missing, they will unravel a dark secret that only Nan holds the key to . . .
The Christie Affair is a stunning novel which reimagines the unexplained eleven-day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926 that captivated the world.
Our Review
The Christie Affair by Nina De Gramont was not a natural choice of book for me. I have never read any Agatha Christie, I simply enjoy books about the lives of authors. Also, even I had heard of Agatha Christie's famous disappearance.
The Christie Affair is written from the point of view of her husband's mistress Nan O'Dea, a charcter you would presume to dislike but actuallly for the purposes of the book I found myself quite fond of her. The use of her to tell the story is genius and her own story is as important as Christie's and as absorbing.
"Agatha Christie had a fascination with murder. But she was a tender-hearted person. She never wanted to kill anyone. Not for a moment. Not even me."
I would recommend this book for fans of the author, but it also works for people like me who previously knew next to nothing about her. I felt by the end of the book like I knew a little more about the author's character.
"Agatha was upper crust and elegent, but perfectly willing to dispense with manners and social mores."
I can't discuss the book without discussing Christie's husband, Archie. Archie is what can only be described as a cad, but without the charm that word can sometimes imply.
"I've sometimes thought Agatha invented Hercule Poirot as an antidote to Archie. There was never an emotional cue Poirot missed, nor any wayward emotions for which he didn't feel sympathy. Poirot could absorb and assess a person's sadness; then forgive it. Whereas Archie simply wanted to cheer up and have the order followed."
I liked that the story focused on Agatha but also on Nan herself and that Archie was a background to the story rather than at the forefront.
The author's style of writing is fresh, richly detailed and spiky.
"The age of disappearing women did not begin with Agatha Christie. It had begun long before Christie hopped into a car and motored away from Newlands Corner...And it would continue for quite a bit longer. We disappeared form schools, from our hometowns. From our families and our jobs. One day we would be going about our business, sitting in class, or laughing with friends, or walking hand in hand with a beau. Then, poof.
What ever happened to that girl? Don't you remember her? Where did she go? ...The age of the disappearing women. It had been going on forever. Thousands of us vanished, with not a single police officer searching. Not a word from the newspapers. Only our long absences and quiet returns. If we ever returned at all."
The ending of the book is one of my favourite ending's I have read.
"No need to question or go forward, past this moment. Indulge yourself instead and close this book on a happy ending."
Our Final Rating...
Read & Shared 16 Times.
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