Having never read an Agatha Christie book it is a mystery to me as to why I was so intrigued to read The Christie Affair - a story based loosely around the 11 days of Agatha Christie's life when she went missing…but intrigued I was.

In this absolutely enigmatic tale Nina de Gramont fills in what happened during those 11 days and paints a whole other side to who Agatha Christie was. Whilst this is a fictional account, the story that Nina de Gramont poses - her 'what if…?' actually seems very plausible. She factors in socio-economical factors, historical elements and then throws in a murder mystery in this melting pot of ideas and all together it makes a pretty damn fine story.

I know this is fictional but I kind of want it to be real.

The Christie Affair is definitely in my top ten books of the year so far.

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont is available now.

For more information regarding Nina de Gramont (@NinadeGramont) please visit www.ninadegramont.com

For more information regarding Pan Macmillan (@panmacmillan) please visit www.panmacmillan.com.

I have to admit, I’m always a little watchful when books try to recreate the past, especially when such well-known characters are involved. However, despite my presumptions, I absolutely loved this book. The characters and settings felt so real that I was sad to finish it - and couldn’t help hoping that some of the love that developed in the book found it’s way into real-life too.

My rating for this book varied at different points along the way but thankfully ended on a high. This was a book which I found hard to like for much of the time but I persevered and I’m glad that I did.

Described as historical fiction, the book pivots around a true event: the famous disappearance of the crime writer, Agatha Christie, in December 1926. Agatha never gave any reason for her disappearance or how she ended up in a hotel in Harrogate using the surname of her husband’s mistress. Nina de Gramont has crafted a complicated tale with Agatha and her husband, Archie, as secondary players to the central character, Nan O’Dea, who is Archie’s mistress and ultimately becomes his second wife.

I’m going to begin with the negatives. Nan is the narrator of the book and I found her hard to like. I struggled with Nan as narrator in the sections where she was not herself involved. She tells of things she had no direct knowledge of and that jarred for me as did her talking directly to ‘the reader’. At times I wondered if she was an unreliable narrator. Initially there seemed little connection between the various parts of the story. Certain elements seemed to be unnecessary, included perhaps because they are popular with audiences. There appeared to be a great many coincidences and several plot holes. I couldn’t always keep up with the characters.
But there were also positives and the more I read, the more the book came together. Several of the things I’d found irritating and/or confusing fell into place and I could see how clever the author has been. In its way, The Christie Affair is an homage to Agatha’s books. Had I realised this before I started reading, my experience of the book may have been rather different.

I know a little bit about Agatha herself and the woman presented in this book didn’t fit the image I have. That said, I’ve yet to read Agatha’s autobiography and now I’m keen to do just that to see what, if anything, Nina de Gramont has used of the ‘real’ Agatha. I’m also keen to read some of the Christie books which Nina has referenced in her acknowledgements. I recognised some of her nods to Christie’s crimes novels and mysteries but I’m sure I missed a few!

Overall, I think this book suffered for me because I wasn’t sure what I was reading. Now I understand and I can see myself reading it again in a new light with more pleasure as I watch out for the clever Christie ploys!

With thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for an advance copy in exchange for an independent review.

Sensational and unputdownable .. I easily give up on books, but I was utterly unable to stop reading this one. Using the occurrence of Agatha Christie's famous 11-day disappearance she claimed not to remember, de Gramont weaves a story of ingenuity and intense cruelty. It all ties neatly together.. Agatha's cheating husband, his wronged vengeful mistress, the Irish workhouses and babies given up for adoption despite mother's desires .. moving and intriguing.. very successful.

The Christie Affair is a fictional look at what happened when Agatha Christie went missing for several days as through the eyes of Nan O’Dea, a character based on Archie Christies mistress and eventual second wife. If you are looking to find out what really took place during that time then this is not for you however if you take it for what it is then you will find this to be a very enjoyable book indeed. It has been written in a style that gives the reader the feeling that at times Nan is either writing in a diary or writing a book recalling her memories which at times you had to wonder if her account of this time was more to justify her actions of pursuing a married man.
To begin with I found that I had little sympathy for Nan O’Dea but as the book progressed and you learned more about her past although I still not agree with her actions I could at least understand a little of what drove her, and her complete fascination with the Christie family. After her troubled start in life, she had managed to reinvent herself yet there were still unresolved things in her past that very few new about and that no one should have to endure. She had a respect for Agatha Christie, and you got the impression that if the circumstances had been slightly different they could have possibly been friends.
Whilst this book is fiction it does highlight parts of history that are not very palatable and the repercussions of which are still talked about today. Nan’s story is not unique, and you can’t help but feel for all those that suffered a similar fate at the hands of churches and society that thought the best way to deal with a problem was to hide it away and pretend that it didn’t happen.
The dual timelines in this book gave it depth and added to the backstories of the main characters, without which I think the story would not have made sense. Despite knowing that this is a complete work of fiction the way that actual events are woven into the story gives it the feel that what takes place could have happened however no one will ever truly know as that secret went with Mrs Christie.

I love this! It took me a while to get into but once I spent some one-on-one time and sat down to read it, I was fully engrossed in Nan’s story. The embedded mystery element surprised me (which is poor of me as this is a novel about Agatha Christie) and was fixated when it was all coming together at the end.

The Christie Affair details Agatha Christie's divorce and mysterious 11 day disappearance from thee perspective of Archie Christie's affair partner, Nan O'Dea.

I found this book a difficult read, though perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind to read a book of this length. It flittered about along the timeline which occasionally made it difficult to identify what was happening, with who and where.

I did finish it in the interest of a balanced review and I will say that the murder mystery intrigued me somewhat. However, I found Nan to be very self deprecating and a bit 'woe is me' despite having put herself in a reasonably resolvable but difficult position and therefore I couldn't really connect with her as a narrator. I did like Agatha's characterisation though, and I thought that was well done and would liked to have seen more of her.

Should you adore Agatha Christie I would probably suggest reading it but would also perhaps warn of a need for perseverance.

My thanks to NetGalley, Pan MacMillan and Nina de Gramont for access to this book in exchange for an honest review

A fairly interesting read. Well written but I'd have liked more on the Agatha side but that's just a personal preference

Having avidly read all of Agatha Christie’s books I’d always been fascinated about her. This book is brilliant. It really brings her to life and puts some additional magic into her books. I absolutely loved it. You certainly don’t need to know her books but you’ll probably want to read them when you’ve finished this!

I was very excited to be reading this and was expecting a great mystery story worthy of Mrs Christie herself. Unfortunately this was not the case. The narrator, Nan O’Dea, is an awful woman. First she has an illegitimate baby in a country where this would make her an outcast, only for the child to be given up for adoption, and seems to blame everyone else but herself. Then she basically forgets all about her childhood sweetheart, the man she apparently yearns for, when she determinedly sets her sights on Agatha Christie’s husband and embarks on an affair. All in all a very distasteful character who even copies Agatha’s style of dressing. On the other hand, Agatha comes over as a very sweet lady who conducts herself with grace and dignity. The book is well written but I never felt I got to know some of the characters well enough. There is quite a lot of hopping backwards and forwards in time, so much of the book is back history and only part relates to the actual 11 days of the disappearance. Yes, there was a murder mystery in the plot which kept me guessing with an explanation which came as quite a surprise, but even then, the revelation about one couple in particular seemed a little incredible to say the least. Out of respect to the author, I did read to the end so that I could write a balanced review but overall I really didn’t enjoy this. I think there is so much more that could have been done with the 11 days but I am glad at least that the memory and reputation of Agatha Christie wasn’t maligned and she certainly came out of the story as a very likeable lady.
I also listened to the audio book and on the whole it was well done with easy to distinguish characters, but the narrator’s attempts at portraying fast talking nervy women often came across as screechy and a little irritating. 3*

This is a fictional story based around the 11 day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926. It starts with the revelation of an affair between Archie Christie and Nan O’Dea which initially leads to Agatha Christie’s disappearance.

This book took me quite a while to get into it, but as I read on it grew on me more and more, until I couldn’t put it down and have it now as one of my favourite reads of the year. There were so many different layers to this book and I loved it as each of the layers were revealed and it had a really good, but different, climax to the book. This is very well written and I also love Nan’s sad backstory which was revealed as the book went on.

It was an intriguing exploration into the disappearance, but you do need to remember it is a fictional account, and in my eyes should be read from this point of view. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thoroughly recommend it to other readers, especially if you are an Agatha Christie fan, or love a good mystery.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for a review copy of the book in exchange for a fair, open and honest review.

This book grabbed me and I couldn't put it down. I was invested in every characters story and whilst surprised by its journey I was so satisfied by the end. Would 100% recommend!

What happened when Agatha Christie went missing for eleven days? Well in this fictional version she disappeared to Yorkshire with her husband's mistress who narrates the story. It starts as Agatha is told by her husband Archie that he is leaving her in order to be with his mistress Nan. Somehow Agatha, Nan, a retired policeman Chilton and Nan's first love Finbarr all end up in the same place in Yorkshire.
Nan's backstory of her childhood and relationship with Finbarr, everything before she met Archie is the best part of this novel. Everything else borders on the unbelievable and distracts from the story. What starts out as an intriguing idea just seems to go missing.

The Christie Affair is a reimagining of the real disappearance of Agatha Christie - I actually had to do a quick internet search to see if any of this novel was true. It’s not. Agatha Christie really did go missing for 11 days, though. Her husband really did leave her for another woman (I have no idea if she was younger). But I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless!

This novel tells the story from the point of view of the mistress. Nan O’Dea (Nancy Neele in real life) gives her version of events: who she is, her past, why she became Archie Christie’s mistress, and why she is destroying their marriage. It’s all compelling reading. She has her reasons, and you can see why she has done what she has - but is it true?

It was fascinating hearing the story from the mistress’ point of view, and I really enjoyed reading about Nan’s early years, even though they were tragic. We see her going to help on a family farm in Ireland as a teenager, and a stay at a convent, reminiscent of a Magdalen Laundry (not quite). Then she returns to London and tries to rebuild her life.

You can never be quite sure as the reader, whether Nan is really telling Agatha’s side of the story, or whether she’s making it up. She’s a thoroughly unreliable narrator - but I liked that. The characters were really well developed, and it was an exciting story. Recommended!

This one just didn't hit the mark for me. I wanted so much to read it, and hoped it would be good, but I just did jost enjoyed.

2.5 stars

I'm not sure exactly what i was expecting from this book but it was a mix of emotions.
Knowing it was historical fiction, i wasn't sure if my opinion would be swayed based on the way they look Christie's character but it was actually quite a charming read.

#WednesdayWisdom - life is too short for books you're not enjoying.
.
DNF at 24%. I just don't care. de Gramont invokes the mystery of Agatha Christie's missing eleven days and then proceeds to tell the story from the perspective of one of the most vapid & irritating characters I've ever met. Perhaps it improves, perhaps it doesn't.

I LOVED the premise of this story! Historical fiction and loosely based on elements of Agatha Christie's life? Sign me up!! Nan was a wonderful character and I was so invested in her even though I knew a lot of the story was more fiction than history. It's a wonderful companion piece to any of Christie's novels I've also picked up and was told masterfully!

I enjoyed this story very much, although for me it did have one small flaw. The story centres on the time when Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days after her husband told her he was going to divorce her so that he could marry his mistress. The story is told entirely from the viewpoint of the mistress, and I felt that some of the events could not be told from by her because she wasn’t there, so did not know what occurred. These events do add to the story, so it essentially is not a major flaw, I just found it a bit distracting. It feels quite a true story, one has to remember this is a novel; and of course Agatha never ever spoke of those eleven days, so the truth will always remain a mystery.

It is a very interesting read, and feels very much in the time it is set, 1926; the style of writing feels more correct, and the way some words are used and spelled all adds to that image. Well worth reading.

A very interesting book covering one possible 4as to what happened to Agatha Christie during the 11 days she disappeared. This co he tire is cleverly bound together with another mystery worthy of Agatha's pen which is both moving and gripping in equal measure. Really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.