Agatha Christie: An English Mystery - Hardcover

Laura Thompson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0755314875 ISBN 13: 9780755314874

Publisher: Review, 2007

Synopsis

A passionate and accomplished writer, Laura Thompson now turns her highly acclaimed biographical skills to Agatha Christie. Arguably the greatest crime writer in the world, thirty years after her death Christie's books still sell over four million copies worldwide a year.

Thompson describes the Edwardian world in which she grew up, explores the relationships she had, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the mysteries still surrounding Christie's life - including her disappearance in 1926.

Agatha Christie is a mystery and writing about her is a detection job in itself. But, with access to all of Christie's letters, papers and writing notebooks, as well as interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christie's detective fiction, but the truth behind her private life as well.

About this title

Review:

'Superlative and rapturously written... Thompson tells Agatha's story extremely well' (Roger Lewis, Express)

'A triumphant success' (A. N. Wilson, Daily Mail)

'Highly accomplished' (Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday)

'The best biographies are labours of love and this fascinating book is just that... her enthusiasm for the work and the woman makes Thompson an ideal biographer... Thompson devotes a substantial chunk of her book to the one mysterious episode in Christie's life, the famous disappearing act... The conclusion Thompson reaches is sympatheitc, sensible and in my view almost certainly the correct one... This version of the crime writer is affectionate, admiring, perceptive and absolutely convincing' (Jessica Mann, Seven magazine [Daily Telegraph])

'Extremely comprehensive, with access to private family papers never revealed before, this is surely the most definitive biography so far. Far from dry, it's an opinionated portrait, sympathetic but judgmental... Thompson's ability to draw parallels and empathise with Christie's dreamy, vulnerable but complex personality creates a compelling sense that seems as close as we are likely to get' (Andrea Mullaney, Scotland on Sunday)

'Thompson does a fabulous job of getting inside her head' (Rachel Cooke, Observer)

'A superlative and rapturously written biography' (Roger Lewis, Daily Express )

'Her Herculean effort (sorry) is the first proper one since Janet Morgan's in 1984 and benefits enormously from the full access Thompson was given to Christie's diaries, letters and surviving relatives. She provides authoritative insights into Christie's often turbulent emotional life and makes informed judgements about the writer's state of mind... She's convincing on the worth of (most of) the books, though, especially "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", and intolerant of the kind of lazy, snobbish thinking that has Christie "stuck for all eternity at a tea-party in a country vicarage, sticking a fork into her seedcake as the bank manager's wife chokes on a strychnine sandwich"' (John O'Connell, Time Out)

'This splendid account of her life and work is unlikely to be bettered' (Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard)

'The most definitive biography so far' (Andrea Mullaney, Scotland on Sunday)

Book Description:

With unique access to previously unpublished papers, this is a perceptive and stylish biography of Agatha Christie as a phenomoenon, a writer and a woman

About this edition

• Publisher: Review
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0755314875
• ISBN 13: 9780755314874
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416