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Title details for The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont - Available

The Christie Affair

A Novel

by Nina de Gramont
Lucy Scott
Audiobook
4 of 4 copies available
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4 of 4 copies available

A Reese's Book Club Pick
Nina de Gramont's The Christie Affair is a stunning new novel that reimagines the unexplained eleven-day disappearance of Agatha Christie that captivated the world.
Every story has its secrets.
Every mystery has its motives.
"A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It's a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it's like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. There's a joy to it. In retrospect, it's frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet. The way justice feels sweet."
The greatest mystery wasn't Agatha Christie's disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it's what she discovered.
London, 1925: In a world of townhomes and tennis matches, socialites and shooting parties, Miss Nan O'Dea became Archie Christie's mistress, luring him away from his devoted and well-known wife, Agatha Christie.
The question is, why? Why destroy another woman's marriage, why hatch a plot years in the making, and why murder? How was Nan O'Dea so intricately tied to those eleven mysterious days that Agatha Christie went missing?
A beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 1, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250836694
      • File size: 299490 KB
      • Duration: 10:23:56

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 4, 2021
      De Gramont (The Last September) offers an intriguing new theory of why Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days in this superior thriller, which places the woman Christie’s husband, Archie, was having an affair with at the time—here the fictional Nan O’Dea—at its center. A gripping opening sentence teases O’Dea’s dark side (“A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman”). In December 1926, Archie decides to reveal the affair to his wife, to whom the news comes as no surprise. Agatha, however, is taken aback by her husband’s declaration that he is both leaving her and seeking a divorce. A day later, the world-famous mystery author vanishes, and her abandoned car is found near a body of water notorious for corpses being found in it, leading some to suspect the writer killed herself. Flashbacks flesh out the backstory of O’Dea, who at 19 was sent to a convent by the head of the family she was working for in Ireland after getting pregnant by his son. De Gramont treats O’Dea’s story with sympathy and care, highlighting the bleak circumstances for both women in the historical period and teasing out the motivations for breaking up the Christies’ marriage. This is an enjoyable reimagining of a scandal whose exact nature remains a puzzle a century later.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this imagining of the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie, listeners are told the story from the viewpoint of Nan O'Dea, Agatha's husband's mistress. Lucy Scott narrates and immediately brings listeners into the world of 1920s Britain with crisp upper-class accents and larger-than-life characters. The story carefully weaves facts and fiction, creating an intriguing plot and a thought-provoking backstory for Nan. Scott's stylish portrayals create believable characters and move seamlessly between accents. As listeners learn more about the backgrounds of the main characters, the mystery and suspense build until the plot climaxes with all the storylines coming together. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2022

      De Gramont (The Last September) achieves an Agatha Christie--style mystery while masterfully weaving the story of the maven of who-dun-its together with that of Nan O'Dea, a girl from London's East End to explain the 11 days Christie disappeared from the world. Narrator Lucy Scott shifts through many accents, fairly seamlessly, delivering the main accent of cultured, clipped upper-crust English in a manner that sometimes lulls and sometimes chastises. Listeners will enjoy feeling as if they are at Styles with Christie until suddenly the backstory comes in and they find themselves in County Cork. There is danger afoot here, and long simmering secrets. VERDICT Scott's narration transports listeners back to Christie's Britain, peopled with veterans of the Great War (some with injuries and PTSD), Sinn Fein, Magdalene laundries, mothers, children, lovers, enemies, and friends. A perfect liminal novel for a liminal time.--Laura Trombley

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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