Synopsis

Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is 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.

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?

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Review

What really happened to Agatha Christie when she went missing for those 11 days?

While I have read some of Agatha Christie’s novels over the years, I will admit that I didn’t know much about her personal life. While this is a fictionalized telling of what happened during those eleven days, it was fascinating to imagine the dynamics of the relationship between the Christie’s and how this mistress came into their lives and destroyed their marriage. While mostly told from Nan O’Dea’s POV, there are some chapters that are told to us from Agatha’s POV and also the detective that found her quite by chance.

We learn a lot about Nan and her childhood and the first love of her life. There are some other things that come about that add complexity to the story and the reason why Nan did what she did to get to know this family. While I probably should have seen it coming, it was a bit of a surprise.

I found that the multiple POV added depth to the story and kept me intrigued as to why this story was playing out as it was for the characters. Did some of this happen? Perhaps.

You will also find that the chapters jump around in time but it is important to understand Nan’s motivation for her actions.

This was a surprisingly delightful story and we give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

Nina de Gramont is the author of a collection of short stories, Of Cats and Men, as well as the novels Gossip of the Starlings and The Last September. She has written several YA novels (Every Little Thing in the World, Meet Me at the River, The Boy I Love, and — under the pen name Marina Gessner — The Distance From Me to You). Nina teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She lives in coastal North Carolina with her daughter and her husband, the writer David Gessner.

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