For any long-time blog readers, you’ll know that I discovered the joys of Agatha Christie while writing these reviews, so imagine my intrigue when I realized one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks was The Christie Affair, a fictitious reimagining of her temporary disappearance in 1926. When I started reading the novel, I didn’t intend to write a review on it, viewing it as just an easy read for myself. In an ode to Agatha herself, The Christie Affair took me by surprise to such an extent I decided it deserved some recognition.
Agatha is married to Archie, Archie is in love with Nan O’Dea, and Nan is in love with him, beginning the story on a not-too-terribly original affair. Suddenly, however, Agatha goes missing and her abandoned vehicle spurs a national police search. Throughout the eleven days of Agatha’s disappearance, Nan chronicles the events while providing background to her own life and how she got wrapped up in this situation.
The book was incredibly easy to listen to (would recommend, really loved the Irish accents sprinkled throughout) and fell under my “light reading” category of literary entertainment. About three-quarters of the way through, the plot turned in such an unexpected way I physically stopped what I was doing. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it coming and couldn’t believe I had been naive enough to think that I could take a story about Agatha Christie at face value. It was my own fault, really. So now I’m reviewing a book I never intended to, solely because I was so taken aback and pleasantly caught off guard by the unexpected intricacy of what I thought would be a nice easy read.
Nina de Gramont wrote a beautifully constructed story, but had it not been for the unexpected plot twist, I’m not sure it would have stood out from other “easy reading” novels. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue and enjoyed getting lost in the narration, but it’s probably not one I’ll read again. If you’re looking to be surprised by a book, definitely give this one a read and let me know if you saw it coming.
2% Rating: 7/10
Recommend? Yeah, probably
Re-Read? No
Time: 1:49
Bonus Content: for my readers in the US.
My new friend Lizzie Clark waved me to her table and her husband stood to offer me a chair. He was a lanky fellow, charmingly inelegant in the way Americans can be, with dark eyes and a sweet, earnest expression.