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inthefallstateofmind's review
4.0
I am a fan of Agatha Christie's work and I have listened to a podcast about her life so I knew about the mysterious days that she went missing which she never spoke of. Her answer to questions about that time was always that she couldn't remember what happened. So learning that the premise of The Christie Affair was a fictional take on what happened during those missing days, I was very intrigued. With that being said, I haven't extensively looked into Agatha's history so as for what is really based on truth in this book, I can't say. I read it as though liberties were taken with the majority of the story.
The book is narrated from the POV of Agatha's husband's (Archie) mistress, Nan O'Dea. Nan is determined to steal Archie from Agatha even after being confronted by Agatha herself. The night that Archie finally tells Agatha that he is leaving her for Nan, Agatha packs a suitcase, grabs her typewriter, and disappears in her car. However, the car is later found on the side of the road and Agatha is nowhere in sight. The reader goes back and forth between this current time where the whole country is searching for Agatha and Nan is laying low at a luxury hotel and Nan's past where she fell in love with an Irish boy who was sent to fight in the War. After he returned, Nan got pregnant, but her love falls deathly ill before they could be married. The boy's parents send Nan off to a convent for unwed mothers where she is starved, forced to do backbreaking labor, and witnesses the physical and sexual abuse of other girls. After giving birth to her baby, the little girl is quickly given to a family without Nan's knowledge. Nan makes it her mission to find her child again.
There are a lot of moving parts and people in The Christie Affair and surprisingly not much of it has to do with Agatha Christie herself. While it uses her story as a basis, this is really a book about fictional character Nan O'Dea. In the beginning I wasn't sure how I would feel about this or her character, but Nina de Gramont did a great job at building Nan's character and getting you to feel sympathetic to a her despite doing some rather unfavorable things. Her story is actually the strongest in my opinion. Agatha is in the story and she plays a role, but don't go into it feeling like she is going to be a focal point. One thing that I think The Christie Affair could have benefited from was multiple POV narrators. Nan tells the whole story including other character's activities and thoughts at times when she wasn't there. Nan explains in the book how that was possible, but I think actually getting to hear the character's thoughts from their own POV would have allowed de Gramont the ability to dive deeper into each other psyches.
The book is narrated from the POV of Agatha's husband's (Archie) mistress, Nan O'Dea. Nan is determined to steal Archie from Agatha even after being confronted by Agatha herself. The night that Archie finally tells Agatha that he is leaving her for Nan, Agatha packs a suitcase, grabs her typewriter, and disappears in her car. However, the car is later found on the side of the road and Agatha is nowhere in sight. The reader goes back and forth between this current time where the whole country is searching for Agatha and Nan is laying low at a luxury hotel and Nan's past where she fell in love with an Irish boy who was sent to fight in the War. After he returned, Nan got pregnant, but her love falls deathly ill before they could be married. The boy's parents send Nan off to a convent for unwed mothers where she is starved, forced to do backbreaking labor, and witnesses the physical and sexual abuse of other girls. After giving birth to her baby, the little girl is quickly given to a family without Nan's knowledge. Nan makes it her mission to find her child again.
There are a lot of moving parts and people in The Christie Affair and surprisingly not much of it has to do with Agatha Christie herself. While it uses her story as a basis, this is really a book about fictional character Nan O'Dea. In the beginning I wasn't sure how I would feel about this or her character, but Nina de Gramont did a great job at building Nan's character and getting you to feel sympathetic to a her despite doing some rather unfavorable things. Her story is actually the strongest in my opinion. Agatha is in the story and she plays a role, but don't go into it feeling like she is going to be a focal point. One thing that I think The Christie Affair could have benefited from was multiple POV narrators. Nan tells the whole story including other character's activities and thoughts at times when she wasn't there. Nan explains in the book how that was possible, but I think actually getting to hear the character's thoughts from their own POV would have allowed de Gramont the ability to dive deeper into each other psyches.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Child death, and Sexual assault
brennarose's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Uninventive, predictable. Two dimensional characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Abandonment
catherine_t's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
In 1926, Nan O'Dea became Archie Christie's mistress, fulfilling a plot she'd begun years earlier, in Ireland, when she was just a teenager. Moving back and forth in time, Nan recounts the events that led her to this moment, and the disappearance of Agatha Christie for eleven days.
My mother really enjoyed this book. I, on the other hand, did not. Yes, I am well aware that this book is fiction. It doesn't purport to solve the mystery of Christie's real-life disappearance (something which Christie herself never discussed, not even in her <i>Autobiography</i>). But the way it characterizes both Christies just struck me as false, hollow. Starting out, I couldn't understand why certain real-life details were changed (the Christies' daughter being named Teddy, for instance, not Rosalind, and Agatha using a typewriter when she was known to write longhand and have a secretary type the manuscript). In fact, it's these little niggling oddities that kept pulling me out of the story. Perhaps if I weren't such a devotee of Christie (I've read two biographies, most of her novels, and am eagerly awaiting the release of Lucy Worsley's biography of Christie later this year), these things wouldn't have bothered me, but they did.
Maybe this book isn't for those of us who know Christie and her work. As I said, my mother really enjoyed the book, and she's read one biography and a handful of the novels (I think). If you can consider this more of an alternate-universe version of Christie, perhaps you'll enjoy it more than I did.
My mother really enjoyed this book. I, on the other hand, did not. Yes, I am well aware that this book is fiction. It doesn't purport to solve the mystery of Christie's real-life disappearance (something which Christie herself never discussed, not even in her <i>Autobiography</i>). But the way it characterizes both Christies just struck me as false, hollow. Starting out, I couldn't understand why certain real-life details were changed (the Christies' daughter being named Teddy, for instance, not Rosalind, and Agatha using a typewriter when she was known to write longhand and have a secretary type the manuscript). In fact, it's these little niggling oddities that kept pulling me out of the story. Perhaps if I weren't such a devotee of Christie (I've read two biographies, most of her novels, and am eagerly awaiting the release of Lucy Worsley's biography of Christie later this year), these things wouldn't have bothered me, but they did.
Maybe this book isn't for those of us who know Christie and her work. As I said, my mother really enjoyed the book, and she's read one biography and a handful of the novels (I think). If you can consider this more of an alternate-universe version of Christie, perhaps you'll enjoy it more than I did.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and War
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Suicide
jessgreads's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Rating: ⭐⭐✨⬜⬜
Title: The Christie Affair
Author: Nina de Gramont
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: London, England
Month Read: February 2022
Book Type: Hardcover
Publication: 2022
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 311
*Book of the Month Selection
TRIGGER WARNING-
Abuse / Infidelity / Murder / Kidnapping / Trauma / Religious Abuse / Rape
"Perhaps a woman has a different kind of measuring stick. For when it might be acceptable, or even necessary, to commit a murder."
No Spoiler Summary:
The Christie Affair is a fiction take on Agatha Christie's mysterious 11 day disappearance told in the POV's of Agatha, and her husband's mistress, Nan. You follow both women through the days before, during, and slightly after the disappearance takes place. You also follow Nan through her past, filled with trauma, treachery, and abuse.
Review:
I'm not quite sure how I felt about this novel, and I think the completely fabricated storylines sort of lost me a bit more than I thought they would. For fans of Agatha, I think this misses the mark quite a bit on being a good mystery novel, and Nan's stakes in this seem incredibly far fetched (and a little forced.)
Nan's past was an incredibly hard part of this book to get through, for me, and I could have probably just read an entire book about this and enjoyed it a lot more. The Irish Catholic religion and the harm they did to unmarried women is disgusting, and as a newer Mom this sent me into rages. I cannot imagine what all of these women went through, and it just hurts so much to know that religion, and those who upheld it, caused people so much pain.
I wish we got to know Archie more, besides just being the man in the center of these two women.I feel like he was really underdeveloped and one sided, and I left the novel unsure why anyone even wanted him in the firs place.
See more reviews at: https://jessgreads.wixsite.com
"As if the sheer force of her anguish had made her, inexplicably, the most important person on earth"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Alcohol, Bullying, and Confinement
shaney_swift's review
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child death and Rape
xlivinglikejen's review
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Kidnapping, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
amandasbookreview's review
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
“In all the years since Agatha Christie disappeared, amid all the conjecture about her state of mind, and her activities, and her motives, not a single person has ever come to me for answers…”
THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR
Thank you, Nina de Gramont, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book. It was released on February 1st, 2022.
When I first saw the cover of The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, I had to have it. The cover just screams 1920s glamor. Then I read the synopsis and I have even more desperate to get my hands on this book. In the year 1926, Archie Christie has told his wife, Agatha that he wants a divorce. He has been having an affair with Nan O’Dea. Upon hearing this news, Agatha is distraught. On December 3rd, 1926, Agatha Christie disappears for 11 days. The police are called out in full force, searching everywhere, and even dredging up lakes. When she turns up the only explanation she gives is “I can’t remember.” But everyone has their secrets, including Agatha and Nan.
Trigger Warnings: kidnapping, rape, birth trauma
What was I expecting? It has been almost 100 years since the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie, and Agatha nor the family ever discussed the matter. It has always been an intriguing moment, especially since Agatha Christie is legendary for her mystery books. I was intrigued that this book would cover the disappearance from the perspective of the mistress, who in real life is named Nancy Neele. I assumed there would be a little mystery inside the mysterious disappearance, maybe even some inspired by her works. To be fair, there is a little mystery but it comes 250 pages too late. The book starts strong and then it drags. It becomes the Nan Show and Agatha disappears just like in reality. When Nan’s true intentions come to light, I just didn’t care anymore.
Even so, the whole plot becomes so far-fetched. This is supposed to be historical fiction about a prominent woman who accomplished so much in her time, but it ends up completely erasing her. I can’t imagine that the Christie estate or even the family of Nancy Neele are pleased with how their family members were portrayed in this book. However, it was heartbreaking to see the treatment of women who found themselves pregnant and sent to the convent where their babies are stripped away from them.
Then there are the time-jumps and point-of-view changes. It will just switch without warning, giving rough transitions and slowing the pace. In fact, some transitions did not make sense to me, I would have to go back and reread to figure out why it switched or if I missed something. Needless to say, I was so disappointed in this book that was one of my most anticipated reads for this year. I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.
Trigger Warnings: kidnapping, rape, birth trauma
What was I expecting? It has been almost 100 years since the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie, and Agatha nor the family ever discussed the matter. It has always been an intriguing moment, especially since Agatha Christie is legendary for her mystery books. I was intrigued that this book would cover the disappearance from the perspective of the mistress, who in real life is named Nancy Neele. I assumed there would be a little mystery inside the mysterious disappearance, maybe even some inspired by her works. To be fair, there is a little mystery but it comes 250 pages too late. The book starts strong and then it drags. It becomes the Nan Show and Agatha disappears just like in reality. When Nan’s true intentions come to light, I just didn’t care anymore.
Even so, the whole plot becomes so far-fetched. This is supposed to be historical fiction about a prominent woman who accomplished so much in her time, but it ends up completely erasing her. I can’t imagine that the Christie estate or even the family of Nancy Neele are pleased with how their family members were portrayed in this book. However, it was heartbreaking to see the treatment of women who found themselves pregnant and sent to the convent where their babies are stripped away from them.
Then there are the time-jumps and point-of-view changes. It will just switch without warning, giving rough transitions and slowing the pace. In fact, some transitions did not make sense to me, I would have to go back and reread to figure out why it switched or if I missed something. Needless to say, I was so disappointed in this book that was one of my most anticipated reads for this year. I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Kidnapping
ninjamuse's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Infidelity
Moderate: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Pregnancy, and Murder
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