Hello everyone! Welcome to the Book Nook. Today we are going to be doing two reviews; The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict. Both books center around the real life disappearance of British author, Agatha Christie back in 1926. In December of that year, Christie went missing for 11 days and never told anybody what transpired during that time. Both books had an interesting take on the event but I prefer one over the other. Before we get started, I encourage you all to comment down below and tell me your thoughts. Also, make sure you are following the Book Nook on WordPress, Instagram and YouTube; that way you don’t miss any of my reviews in the future. So, without further ado, lets get into it.
First, the review of The Christie Affair.
The story is told through the eyes of Nan O’Dea who is the mistress of Agatha Christie’s husband, Archie. The day that Archie announces he is leaving Agatha for Nan, is the same day that Agatha disappears. Nan decides to lay low until the whole thing blows over. But she has a secret agenda that has been brewing for some time and it’s time to put it into play.
First off, I wonder if the title has a double meaning. The word “affair” could refer to the infidelity or it could refer to the actual event of Agatha’s disappearance. Just something to think about. Anyway, as I said the story is told from the POV of Nan including situations that involve the other characters such as Agatha, Archie and the detective investigating the disappearance. I thought this was a weird way of narrating the story but Nan does acknowledge this fact in the beginning of the book. She states:
“You may well wonder if you can believe what I tell you about things that occurred when I myself was not present. But this is as reliable an account as you can ever hope to receive…It’s a simple matter of weaving together what we know, what we’ve been told, and what we imagine.”
I took this to mean that she is estimating or imaging what went on between certain characters using the information that was provided for her. As as result, you just have to take what she says at face value. Upon reading the synopsis, I was thinking that as the mistress, Nan did something to Agatha that resulted in her disappearance. I thought something more sinister was afoot. But that was not the case. 90% of the story is focused on Nan and not Agatha. We saw her backstory; what her home life was like with an Irish father and an English mother, how she fell in love with a young man but couldn’t be with him, and how she ended up being Archie’s mistress in the first place. We do get to see what happens to Agatha during those 11 days of her disappearing act. But again, the book more-so focuses on Nan and her agenda which wasn’t what I was expecting. I actually wanted Agatha’s POV more than anything. However, the story was nonetheless compelling.
I like the way it was written. I like how it goes back and forth between the past and the present. Anytime new information was brought up the story goes back in time and we got to see just exactly why this information is relevant. It did have a murder mystery element in the book which I loved! It was an Agatha Christie murder mystery inside an Agatha Christie mystery book and I thought it was a great homage to the author.
All in all, it wasn’t what I was expecting but it was still an enjoyable read nonetheless. I absolutely loved it. I liked the pacing, the way it was written, the plot. Nan’s backstory was very tragic but also compelling at the same time. I would definitely recommend this book to any Agatha Christie fan.
Overall, I give it a 4.5/5.
Now, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie.
Agatha Christie has gone missing. The police find her car by a gloomy pond with a fur coat and suitcase in the back. Her husband, Archie, has no knowledge of where his wife may have gone. However, he does play an integral part in her disappearance. He receives a strange letter with instructions that he must follow exactly or there will be consequences. With no other choice, Archie does what he is told even if that mean revealing a secret that was meant to stay hidden.
Firstly, the pacing is really good, even. It moves the story right along and with the book being under 300 pages it’s a pretty quick read if you have the time. I do like how the book goes back and forth between Agatha’s POV and Archie’s. I wanted something similar from The Christie Affair. I don’t know why but hearing Agatha call her mom “mummy” instead of “mum” or “mother” was kind of annoying. But that’s a minor and personal issue.
Now…I have to say…after reading for a while the book became very reminiscent of Gone Girl. In Gone Girl, Amy’s POV is from the past; specifically, we see her writing in a journal documenting how she met Nick and how their marriage progressed in the years to come. In Nick’s POV we’re in the present when Amy goes missing. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie follows a similar idea. In Agatha’s POV, we’re in the past; we see how she met Archie in the first place and how their marriage progressively got worst as time went on. In Archie’s POV we are in the present; we see the investigation that is taking place surround Agatha’s disappearance. So, because of that when it got to the end and Agatha explains why she did what she did, I wasn’t impressed. Long story short, she wanted to make Archie suffer and this was the way to do it. Also, it was very frustrating trying to watch Agatha fix a broken marriage. When her and Archie first got together he loved her spontaneity, her cheerfulness. But as time went on he became annoyed with her and she tried desperately to please him even when she herself was not happy. It was very sad ti witness.
Like I said before, because it was so close to the plot of Gone Girl I wasn’t really dazzled by it. The pacing was great but there was nothing else really alluring about the book like with The Christie Affair.
Overall, I give it a 3/5.
With all that being said, I would would say The Christie Affair is the better book. Even though majority of the book is not focused on Christie herself, the plot was still very creative, it was compelling, the pacing was great, the writing was great. Everything about it was great. I will say Marie Benedict has written other books about women in history and I will definitely be reading more of her work as well as reading some of Nina de Gramont’s other writings as well.
Until next time!