The Christie Affair

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The Christie Affair is a mystery centered around the sensational and scandalous chain of events that led to Agatha Christie’s disappearance for 11 days in 1926. Told through the eyes of Agatha Christies’ husband’s mistress, a story of secrets, revenge, and lust emerges, resulting in a startling murder.

This is Nan O'Dea's story, a fictional character very loosely based on Archie Christie's mistress and second wife. For the most part, Nan is speaking to us as she tells the story and we learn about her life from an early age. We also learn about her motivation to be a part of Archie Christie's life, even though it means being a partner in destroying his first marriage. Nan presents Agatha in a much more flattering light than Archie and if this had been a different story they could have easily been good friends, I think. But that's the fictional Agatha, I'm talking about, an Agatha that I like to pretend could have kept following the path she was on at the end of the book She writes to Finbarr and tells him that she’s going to meet Archie and marry him so she can be with their daughter. Agatha’s story was enjoyable. Nan’s story was not enjoyable at first but became better especially when secrets about her emerged. She wasn’t a nice person or should I say she was a calculating person. Nan, the book’s narrator, is having an affair with Archie Christie, who is married to mystery writer Agatha Christie.

I would love to know what happened during those eleven days and why. This well-written and engaging story only added to the intrigue of one of world’s most famous and well-loved authors. We additionally learn that Bess and Nan were in on it together, both determined to get justice for their time at the convent. Lizzy and Donny Clarke were actually Bess and her husband, and Mr. and Mrs. Race were Bess's sister and brother in law. Nan recalls her daughter being born and that she refused to sign papers allowing Genevieve to be adopted. Sister Mary Clare promises she will look out for Genevieve and that no one will adopt her. However, I don’t want Nan’s story which is what we mostly get, I want Agatha’s. The story is very complex, it deviates and becomes scattergun taking a very meandering path and at times it’s hard to follow why we are where we are! I don’t like the narration much either or Nan for that matter and that gets muddling as Nan’s life before 1926 get intertwined with events of December 1926. As it’s from Nan’s perspective how can she know or presume to know things about Agatha? She’s not her friend and everything she knows is via Archie. Hmmm. How can she know what’s in Agatha’s head which is what I hope for. Agatha tries to stay under the radar, but some people think she looks a lot like that writer whose photo is in the newspaper. 😃 After eleven days Agatha is found, none the worse for wear except she has 'amnesia' about her disappearance. To say more would be a spoiler.

In “The Christie Affair,” de Gramont explores the events surrounding Agatha Christie’s puzzling 11-day disappearance in 1926. The case made international headlines, including a handful in this newspaper: “Mrs. Agatha Christie, Novelist, Disappears From Her Home in England,” “500 Police and Planes Search for Mrs. Christie” and “Mrs. Christie Found in a Yorkshire Spa.” Finbarr seems to want Agatha Christie to convince Nan that Teddy is actually Agatha’s biological daughter, but this doesn’t work. Agatha eventually admits that Archie “got her a baby.”Nan goes to hide out at The Bellefort hotel and Finbarr shows up. She recalls the Spanish Flu going through her family around the time she found out she was pregnant. Finbarr caught the flu and Nan tried to see him but Finbarr’s mom sent her away. Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?

Noel and Ursula Owen– the couple hosting the party that Archie and Nan attend at the time Agatha goes missing. Historical kinda-fiction, a thriller wrapped in romance, mystery, and some fascinating conjecture." —Goodreads Archie goes home to Agatha. Nan speculates what happens that night. Did they argue? Did they sleep together?The facts are as follows: In December, 1926 Agatha's husband Archie Christie announced he was divorcing Agatha to marry his mistress. The next day Agatha vanished, and her car - containing a suitcase with her clothes - was found perched above a chalk quarry. In the history of the world there’s been one story a man tells his mistress. He doesn’t love his wife, perhaps never loved her at all. There’s been no sex for years, not a whisper of it. His marriage is absent passion, absent affection, absent joy. A barren and miserable place. He stays for the children, or for money, or for propriety. It’s a matter of convenience. The new lover is his only respite.” I came to this book knowing that it is historical fiction. As I read it I adapted to the fact that it's so much more fiction than historical which was fine with me. I stopped comparing what I know about Agatha Christie's real life to what I was reading. I've only read one of Agatha Christie's stories (so far) but I've been fascinated with her life and I enjoyed her depiction here. Please call me Agatha’ entreats Mrs Christie to Nan O’Dea, her husband Archie’s mistress and she’s far too well bred to call Nan out for the betrayal. When Archie tells Agatha he is leaving her for Nan, could this have been the catalyst for Agatha’s disappearance between 3rd and 14th December 1926? What are the reasons given? Memory loss - a sort of fugue state following crashing her car? A nervous breakdown following the death of her mother? A publicity stunt? Embarrassment over the ‘affair at Styles’? Who knows. This novel imagines a very creative scenario seen through the eyes of Nan O’Dea.