The Christie Affair

THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR by Nina de Gramont This is a clever reimagining of the events surrounding the mysterious disappearance of famed author Agatha Christie right after her husband, Arthur, admits to having an affair and wants a divorce. Interestingly, the story is narrated by Arthur’s mistress, Nan O’Dea. In real life Nan ends up becoming Arthur’s second wife so right away I was intrigued at how this would pan out. Nan narrates the present-day, then flashes back to her backstory, then it’s Nan’s imagination and guesses as to what transpired in the events she wasn’t a part of. Sometimes this occurred within the same paragraph which was confusing and convoluted to say the least. You’re expected to dislike Nan, but as the story progresses certain things come to light that might change your views. The author certainly took a lot of liberties when writing this story. Despite the meandering pace of the plot, I felt it came together in the end. Overall I really enjoyed the mystery within a mystery, the drama, trauma, and revenge with just a smidge of romance thrown in. A good book to pick up if you’re an Agatha Christie fan. Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

I feel like this book uses the name Agatha Christie to get readers. The main character is not Christie, but the mistress of Archie Christie, Nan. The main emphasis of the book is the appalling treatment of pregnant women by the religious houses. The author showed the most interest in this, so, to me, the book should have stuck to that and left Agatha Christie out of it. I feel using a person who lived and still has living relatives is wrong. An unfortunate period in their life is written as fiction. The narrator "Nan", Archie's mistress discloses in great detail what Agatha, Archie, and everyone else is thinking. How would she know? I found the book hard to follow, the jumps between time periods were hard to keep up with. There was nothing I liked about this book!