BOOK REVIEW
Agatha Christie - An Autobiography
This is a life story of one of the greatest writers of detective novels.
Agatha Christie was born the youngest of 3 children at the end of the 19th century into a middle-upper class family. She spent an idyllic childhood at the family home – ‘Ashfield’ - in Torquay in the south of England.
Agatha began writing her autobiography in 1950 and it took her many years to complete. Obviously her crime stories took precedence.
She had never envisaged becoming a serious writer. She had played around with poetry and short stories only as a leisure time ‘activity’.
As a child, she travelled quite a lot with her parents to many parts of Europe and
Northern Africa. Consequently she became very familiar with ‘foreign’ lifestyles. Her love of and desire to travel remained with her all of her life.
During the first World War she wanted to do what she could ‘for the war effort’ so enrolled in nursing. She found this career to be most satisfying and felt she had met her calling. However, as the war came to a close and rehabilitation hospitals began to shut down she was asked by a hospital pharmacist if she would be interested in ‘helping out’ for a bit. So Agatha became familiar with different pills and potions and this knowledge later provided her with some ‘ammunition’ for her stories.
During the war Agatha met and married Archie Christie and they had one daughter, Rosalind. Although Agatha had come from a fairly wealthy family, she and Archie struggled for the first years of their marriage. Archie was a restless character and eventually the marriage failed.
Agatha remarried a few years later to an archaeologist, Max Mallowan. Here her life changed completely as she spent much of her time accompanying Max on digs in Iran and Syria and continued her writing at the same time.
Agatha and Max spent their last years in England and were living in London at the time of the Blitz during the second world war.
Agatha died on 12th January, 1976 and was known as the Queen of Crime, a best selling novelist of all time selling two billion books sold in 100 languages.
I found her story captivating and informative. The life she spent with Max, was especially interesting and admirable as she was as much interested in Max’s career as she was her own.
A great read and when it was published after her death, millions of her fans agreed – this was her best story!
ROSALIE HOWARTH
This is a life story of one of the greatest writers of detective novels.
Agatha Christie was born the youngest of 3 children at the end of the 19th century into a middle-upper class family. She spent an idyllic childhood at the family home – ‘Ashfield’ - in Torquay in the south of England.
Agatha began writing her autobiography in 1950 and it took her many years to complete. Obviously her crime stories took precedence.
She had never envisaged becoming a serious writer. She had played around with poetry and short stories only as a leisure time ‘activity’.
As a child, she travelled quite a lot with her parents to many parts of Europe and
Northern Africa. Consequently she became very familiar with ‘foreign’ lifestyles. Her love of and desire to travel remained with her all of her life.
During the first World War she wanted to do what she could ‘for the war effort’ so enrolled in nursing. She found this career to be most satisfying and felt she had met her calling. However, as the war came to a close and rehabilitation hospitals began to shut down she was asked by a hospital pharmacist if she would be interested in ‘helping out’ for a bit. So Agatha became familiar with different pills and potions and this knowledge later provided her with some ‘ammunition’ for her stories.
During the war Agatha met and married Archie Christie and they had one daughter, Rosalind. Although Agatha had come from a fairly wealthy family, she and Archie struggled for the first years of their marriage. Archie was a restless character and eventually the marriage failed.
Agatha remarried a few years later to an archaeologist, Max Mallowan. Here her life changed completely as she spent much of her time accompanying Max on digs in Iran and Syria and continued her writing at the same time.
Agatha and Max spent their last years in England and were living in London at the time of the Blitz during the second world war.
Agatha died on 12th January, 1976 and was known as the Queen of Crime, a best selling novelist of all time selling two billion books sold in 100 languages.
I found her story captivating and informative. The life she spent with Max, was especially interesting and admirable as she was as much interested in Max’s career as she was her own.
A great read and when it was published after her death, millions of her fans agreed – this was her best story!
ROSALIE HOWARTH
