An unusual and very enjoyable mixture of genres, with the story spanning Ireland and Britain. In keeping with any story about Agatha Christie, a few red herrings and surprises are seeded through the plot. There are also all the other elements of a typical Agatha Christie tale, with the entertaining twist being the presence of the author herself as a character. It’s difficult to say much more without venturing into spoilers, except to say its an inventive and intriguing book that reimagines a mysterious period in Agatha Christine’s life very creatively!

Nan O’Dea is having an affair with Arthur Christie. That’s right, the first husband of Agatha Christie. As the story begins, Arthur is promising Nan that he is finally going to tell his wife that he is leaving her. This is something that he does and soon after Agatha disappears. This is historical fiction with mystery elements. The story takes place in the year 1926 when the author Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. This is the story of what made her disappear and all the reasons behind it.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

In “The Christie Affair” we meet Nan O’Dea, mistress of Archie Christie, aka the husband of Agatha. Upon finding out about her husband’s affair in 1926, Agatha famously went missing for several days, and this is Nan’s fictionalised account of what happened, and why…

This is an engaging, exciting, and occasionally heart-breaking look at the lives at two very different women in the early part of the last century. It is set across a couple of timelines, each of which is fascinating, and I really enjoyed learning more about Nan’s backstory and time in Ireland, as well as seeing such a different take on Agatha’s mysterious disappearance.

While fictionalised, this is very well researched and the sense of time and place comes through beautifully. The twists are frequent, and fun, and the characters are all great. There also couldn’t be a book about Agatha Christie without a murder or two to solve, and this element ties in perfectly with the other themes of the story.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

This was such an intriguing read!! Taking a great time in history to look into, The Christie Affair weaves a sense of thrill so well.

Agatha Christie's 11 day disappearance in 1926 was a cause celebre at the time and has been reimagined several times since. This time, part of the story is told from the point of view of the young Nan O'Dea, Archie Christie's mistress. The motivations for Christie's disappearance and for O'Dea's actions are fresh and interesting, and the whole tale unfolds breathlessly. Not so much a whodunit as a mixture of domestic noir thriller and meditation on marriage, family, and society. Some plot twists will strain your credibility, but enter into the spirit of it and you'll be satisfied.

3.5⭐

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this ARC from NetGalley.

I wasn't aware of the true story surrounding this until I saw this boom. Obviously I wasn't alive at the time 😂 I thought the story line sounded intriguing, especially being written by the "other woman."

I actually preferred Nan's sections to Agatha's. I enjoyed reading about her summers in Ireland. I felt like the book didn't really pick up until about 70%, but it came as a real shock to me and that's all I'll say!

My favourite quote:
"She sat down to write a letter to her husband. It may have been a plea. It may have been a declaration of war."

Sadly I just couldn't get into this. I wanted to love it, and the period details are great, but I wanted more Agatha Christie!

In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days, a mystery that was never resolved. In “The Christie Affair” Nina de Gramont comes up with a story to explain this part of the writer's life. The story is narrated by Nan O’Dea, a (fictionalised) mistress of Archie Christie, Agatha’s husband, but it deals not only with Agatha's disappearance but also murder mystery, love, romance and the dramatic story of Nan’s life. Altogether, it was too much for me - too many different storylines (did I mention the police officer who is brought back to search for her?), too many fictionalised parts, and all together, a rather improbable storyline. But the story of Nan was brilliant – moving, thoughtful and believable. I almost wish it was just the story of her, without Agatha Christie.

I'm in two minds about this one. As an Agatha Christie and crime lover, I applaud the author for being so brave with her subject matter, Problem is - you can't help but compare to Christie herself, because she's there! The book is pretty good too, as with all 'mystery writing' its full of twists and turns, with surprises revealed along the way. Story was interesting, kept my interest throughout and I really enjoyed reading it, so the comparison is unfair. I'd definitely read the author again.

Thankyou for giving me the chance to read in advance. Highly recommend this one. Cracking read from start to finish. Thankyou

I absolutely loved this and devoured it.

A beautiful insight into the lives of the Christie's and a taste of a life dripped in mystery, affairs and pleasure.

When Agatha disappeared no one knew where she went, this book is the answer to that question, a brilliant work of fiction that left me wanting more, more and much more.

I devoured this and really didn't want it to end.

Highly recommended 5 stars from me.

Well this book has a bit of everything! I really enjoyed it and i found the story so compelling. Has me gripped until the last page.

4.5 stars

"The age of disappearing women. It had been going on forever. Thousands of us vanished, with not a single police officer searching. Not a word from the newspapers. Only our long absences and quiet returns. If we ever returned at all..."

In this vivid, compelling, and compulsively readable story, de Gramont takes one enigmatic moment in history - the eleven day disappearance of mystery writer Agatha Christie - and uses it as a catalyst for an utterly capitivating reimagining of the author, her world, and her time spent missing.

Following the unexpected perspective of Nan O'Dea, the mistress of Agatha's husband, readers are drawn into a narrative full of gripping twists and turns, devastating heartbreaks, difficult choices - and running through it all, the power and importance of women in a time when they were consistently overlooked, undervalued, and underestimated.

I felt that what this book had to say about the time period, and the clever and intricate reimagining of Christie's life, to be incredibly engaging and accomplished - and de Gramont's tone and pacing were pitch perfect for slowly unravelling this complex and nuanced story.

The only place in which it lost points for me was the slightly confused perspective - at times, Nan imagines Agatha's words and actions with a bizarre sense of authority that required quite a lot of mental gynmastics to unpick!

Despite this occasional challenging viewpoint, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this read, which swept me up into its own little world - one which I was reluctant to leave.

I found this a fun read and I liked the concept and how it concentrated around the mistress, not the wife. Overall a great read and good for Agatha Christie fans.

A welcome return to the 1920’s, though the country is recovering from war and flu, love and life continue. A tale about the real disappearance of Agatha Christie told in part by the lady herself and mainly by Nan , the other woman.
A love story of several dimensions which turned into a murder mystery book, absolutely brilliant. A slow start but well worth the read.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

I am quite a fan of Agatha Christie so this book was on my radar for some time. I didn’t really know what to expect from it, especially when I knew it was told from Agatha’s first husband’s mistress Nan O’Dea’s point of view instead of Agatha’s.

Agatha did actually go missing for 11 days in 1926 and she never revealed where she went. This book is a fictional take on what this author imagined could have happened, though it is highly unlikely. The plot that de Gramont came up with is original and very intriguing.

I really liked the character of Nan, even though she was in the wrong seeing a married man, you empathise with her as you learn about her background which is quite traumatic. There was excellent character development and I love how you hear from her point of view as ‘the other woman’. Getting to see Agatha from an outsiders point of view is great. As a lot of Agatha fans will be biased and be Team Agatha, you will not be able to stop yourself really taking to Nan. By the end I loved her and how strong she has had to be throughout her life.

There are a variety of different timelines and you are taken through a few little twists and turns which you would expect in an Agatha Christie novel. I thought de Gramont did a perfect job of adding these mysteries into this book herself.

The Christie Affair is a compelling story about love, hope, tragedy and marriage. A brilliant case of storytelling.

I had thought that this fictionalised account of Agatha Christie's disappearance sounded like it would be really entertaining; I hadn't realised just how fictionalized it was. It is supposed to be a story of the events seen through the eyes of Archie Christie's mistress, not his actual mistress, Nancy Neale, but a made up one, Nan, with a completely different back story, which imagined a whole new set of motivations for what happened. It even throws in a bit of a murder mystery.

I did quite like the story, but the first person narrative didn't work for me; we're expected to believe she knew things which stretch credulity. To be honest, I don't really see why the author decided to shoehorn the Agatha Christie disappearance into what could have been a perfectly good story. Making the wronged wife Agatha added nothing, to the plot and left me a bit in as it wasn't the story I had expected. I would have enjoyed it more if it was just supposed to be Nan's story.

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion*

Thank you to #NetGalley and #PanMacmillan for my eARC of this book. I have been totally immersed in Agatha Christie's 1920s for the past 2 days! The book provides a fictional back- story to the mystery of her 11-day disappearance.
The character of Nan O'Dea is a tribute to the incredibly strong women of the early 20th century who faced shame, sexual abuse and suicide as the only option if they found themselves alone and pregnant. The disappearance weaves many delicate threads- her husband's adultery, childlessness, adoption and new romance all of which Agatha and Nan experience in a strange parallel way. Utterly heartbreaking but I was unable to put it down.

I loved this!

I found the development of the storylines engaging and the resolution of the mystery - both Agatha's disappearance and the two deaths.

I didn't expect to like this novel as much as I ended up doing.
I started this book very excited but the first 100 pages were slow and I found the chapters set in Ireland pointless.
However, then the story kicked off and I was completely sucked into the tale. This is so much more than a historical fiction novel about the disappearance of Agatha Christie and it gets better and better the further into the book you get.
This book is completely fictional and not based on the real events that happened with Agatha Christie and her husband and his mistress.
My only complaints about the book are that the parts in Ireland are introduced a bit too early before I cared enough about Nan to be interested in anything that had happened to her in the past but I would definitely recommend sticking with it if you find the first 100 pages not that interesting. I loved the comments on the history of convents and "the disappearing girls" as they are referred to. I also liked the characterisation of Agatha Christie later in the book as she is developed more and the characters that the author created for the story. The mystery and the conclusion are brilliant reminding me of an Agatha Christie book, I won't specify which one as that would be a spoiler.
I am excited to read more by this author in the future.