The Christie Affair

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What drives someone to murder? What will someone do in the name of love? What kind of crime can someone never forgive? Nina de Gramont’s brilliant, unforgettable novel explores these questions and more. The greatest mystery wasn't Agatha Christie's disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it's what she discovered. The day after Agatha's husband Archie Christie tells her he is divorcing Agatha and leaving her for his mistress, Agatha Christie disappeared without a trace for 11 days. Her car was found abandoned by the side of the road with her possessions left inside. Thought to be dead, a nationwide search was launched to find the missing mystery writer. What happened to AC during this time is imagined by Nan O’Dea, Archie’s mistress, and the woman who caused it all. The Christie Affair is a light read with sort of a dreamy rose-tinted quality to its narration. This story took a different turn than what I was expecting, but I thought the way the story comes together at the end was fairly clever.

On December 3, 1926, Agatha Christie was told by her husband that he was leaving her for another woman, a Nancy Neele. Agatha Christie hopped into her car and drove off, only to have her car discovered abandoned with her clothing and driver's license inside. Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days. Finally, on December 14, 1926, she was discovered at a hotel staying under the name Mrs. Tressa Neele. In general, the storyline is surprisingly imaginative, offering up an intricate plot to fit neatly behind a historical event (Christie’s disappearance) that relatively little is known about. I had misgivings about it not being focused enough on Agatha Christie herself, but the fact that the pieces of the story all come together in a satisfying way is probably what won me over. On December 3, 1926 Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days after her husband informed her he was in love with another woman and wanted a divorce. What happened during those days? What caused her disappearance? There are multiple theories - revenge, publicity stunt, amnesia, grief, etc. The author weaves a clever, highly original, mesmerizing tale filled with strange and unexpected turns and concludes it in an unexpected but wholly satisfying manner. With its superb writing, strong characterizations, and wonderfully imaginative plot, this is a must-read." - Booklist (starred review) Overall I so want to love this book as the great authors disappearance has fascinated people for nearly a century but I just like parts of it. We’ll never know the truth and maybe we shouldn’t as it’s Agatha’s business not ours. If you want a different take on the events in Harrogate over those eleven days then this book may well be for you.Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. So maybe, in her unbearable grief, she decided that Teddy was Genevieve. What did you think of Nan’s narration? As mentioned above, I went into this unprepared for how completely fictionalized the main story in it was, so that would be a big caveat for anyone interested in the events of Agatha Christie’s disappearance. In reading it, it ended up being a fairly different book than the one I’d imagined it to be.

The author has woven an intricate tale of grief and pain during the years of war very clearly portraying the misery of young unmarried females forced to abandon their babies irrespective of their wishes and dreams. The story unfurls thru Nan and her past in Ireland and then draws us to the events that happen before the day of missing and the days following that. Nina de Gramond’s writing takes the reader on an emotional journey seeing the agony endured by Nan thus making us feel pity for her and her determined focus in destroying another woman’s life. However it was not Nan, but Finbarr whose undying love that brought a lump to my throat. Maybe she just meant that Genevieve was taken from her and she lost the chance to be her mother? Or maybe she’s admitting that she just wanted to find her daughter more than anything and refused to admit that she died, as the convent claimed.The story unfolds in a series of carefully placed vignettes you may find yourself reading and rereading, partly to get the details straight, partly to fully savor the well-turned phrases and the dry humor, partly so the book won't have to end, damn it. Devilishly clever, elegantly composed and structured—simply splendid." — Kirkus (Starred Review) Nan was once a girl who fell in love with a boy in Ireland, though they were unable to be together. In this story about love, revenge, and the past catching up to the present, The Christie Affair explores Nan's story as it fictionalizes what could have happened during those fateful 11 days.