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Bright Young Things discussion
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Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days
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May 2017- Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days by Jared Cade
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This was the April choice for another group, so I have recently read it. Without giving away any spoilers, I think the author's reconstruction of the events surrounding Agatha Christie's disappearance are more likely to be correct than not. I think he is a better journalist than book writer, his style is quite dry and bland but he seems to have tracked down all the available information and tied it all together well. (The book is not just about the eleven days by the way, it is fairly complete as a brief biography.)
I agree, Val. It was largely a biography that started at that point. I did think it an interesting read and it made me realise how central that event was in Christie's life. I don't think she ever got over it, to be honest, and it was interesting how often she seemed to refer to it in her work and yet to do everything possible to avoid mentioning it.
http://i2.getsurrey.co.uk/incoming/ar...Although she had her sixth novel out, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," is is interesting to note that Agatha Christie was not yet famous enough to be named in newspaper reports at the time - she is a missing, 'woman novelist,' in the above front page...
I have just got a copy of this and look forward to joining in.
Good to hear, Judy :)
I'm also reading it. Her disappearance so far seems like the plot for one of her books so it's keeping my interest.
Val wrote: " I think he is a better journalist than book writer, his style is quite dry and bland but he seems to have tracked down all the available information and tied it all together well. ."I agree about the writing style, Val - I've read 25% so far and found the style really clunky in the opening section, jumping around all over the place and not giving much feeling of what anyone was like.
But now that I'm into the account of the disappearance the writing seems to be becoming tighter and I'm getting more hooked!
He did try to make the beginning exciting, didn't he? There are, of course, lots of theories as to WHY she did this, so I will be interested to hear what people think when they have read the book.
Good point about the beginning, Susan -I think you are right that he is trying to make this part exciting, but for me all the comments about how amazingly good looking both Agatha and Archie were and speculation about their emotions do get a bit much.The book has definitely improved a great deal now that I've got on to the section about the disappearance, though - I'd never realised that it was such a huge search and so many people got involved. Fascinating that the author was able to interview some of the younger people who took part in the search.
I loved the part about Dorothy L Sayers getting out of the car and saying, "well, she's not here!" or something like that. Plus, of course, Conan Doyle using his spiritualism colleagues to try to trace her. It was also interesting that she was not yet famous enough to be named in the newspaper reports, which is one of the reasons why she was accused of trying to get publicity.
Why do you think Agatha used the name 'Theresa Neele' to book into the hotel? Nancy Neele being the name of the woman Archie was having an affair with.
Susan wrote: "Why do you think Agatha used the name 'Theresa Neele' to book into the hotel? Nancy Neele being the name of the woman Archie was having an affair with."I think she was letting Archie (and maybe some close family members) know the reason for her disappearance. It might also embarrass Nancy Neele. Just like characters in her books leave clues, she was leaving a message. She was probably so emotionally upset that she wasn't sleeping, and the affair was the only thing on her mind. She never expected the publicity and huge search.
Good points, Connie. Nancy Neele's parents were certainly upset and split the pair up afterwards, but they did marry later.
There was a suggestion in the book that Teresa was an anagram of Teaser? This didn't seem a very likely reason to me, but a clever idea!
I found the whole description of the disappearance and search for Christie fascinating - so similar to one of Christie's own plots. I'm now into the account of her life afterwards, so the pace has slowed a bit. Still interesting, but I'm skipping the plots of books to avoid spoilers.
What did you think of her actual discovery, Judy? Also, what did you think of Archie?
I was surprised that it took such a long time to find her after the journalists and people at the hotel were suspicious - it almost seems to happen in slow motion.I don't feel we ever really get to know what Archie was like, or Agatha either, come to that, and it's impossible really to know what happened between them. I felt very sorry for them both in the bit where they are reunited and have to play out a sort of charade in front of the press and public.
Yes, that was excruciating, wasn't it? Archie, I must say, did behave well - in public at least - towards Agatha. Of course, this was all with one eye on the door, but he never publicly criticised her, which was something.
I've finished this now and have rather mixed feelings. I'm definitely glad to have read it and thought the section about the disappearance was absolutely fascinating, but the rest of the book is a sort of potted biography which is rather bitty and I didn't warm to the writing style. I'd probably give 4 or even 5 stars to the middle part about the disappearance and 2 stars to the start and end!
He has made me really want to try Christie's Mary Westmacott books, although I skipped the over-detailed accounts of the plots of these!
She really did try to protect her anonymity over writing those, didn't she, Judy? I was actually surprised she managed to do so for so long.
Enjoy!