Oct 05, 2005 07:58 PM
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(Updated Oct 05, 2005 08:00 PM)
As a general rule I do not read autobiographies but as an exception I couldn?t help picking up a hardbound copy of the story of Agatha Christie (hereafter referred to as AC) as recounted in her own words.
For someone whose books have only been out-sold by the bible, whose popularity is next in line only to Shakespeare, she presents herself as an embodiment of humbleness.
Spanning a little more than 500 pages, we get to see most of the events of her life in chronological order, though she tends to deviate a few times.
Ironically her books take a backseat and appear only in the order of occurrence in her life ? which is to say, making an appearance only in the latter half of this tome.
You can call it a comprehensive book considering the depth of details that AC has covered including her childhood nannies, cooks and parlour maids, not to mention her pets.
Her Life :
Starting from her childhood days at her house in Torquay called Ashfield, she covers the various stages of her life as she simply puts
?What has one really enjoyed most in life? It varies with different people. For me it is the quiet moments of everyday life?
Her good-humored embarrassments like her shy nature whenever she appeared in public especially for a musical performance, which she excelled in, leaves us chuckling.
As she ponders upon her father?s death when she was 11,her relationship with her sister Madge, whom she considered to be the cleverest of the siblings and her candid appraisal of her brother Monty, we cant help but appreciate the simple yet engrossing narrative of her life.
As a young girl, she was interested in crochet, embroidery, music and tennis and had never nursed any dreams of becoming a writer.
Marriage:
Her first husband Archibald Christie was an officer in the Flying Corps and had participated in the First World War and it was during this time that she worked as an assistant to a Chemist in a dispensary. Her divorce we come to know is one of the most difficult phases of her life.
Her second marriage with, someone 14 years her junior in age, Max Mallowan (an archaeologist) stood the test of her speculation.
Her Books
Though she received no formal education as a child she had read ?enormous quantities of books? ranging from The Castle Inn, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Last Days of Burse, Jules Verne and Alexander Dumas in French, Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott and Maurice Hewlett. She admired Mary Sinclair and ?The Mystery of the Yellow Room? by Gaston Le Roux.
It was while discussing one of Sherlock Holmes mysteries ?The Blue Carbuncle? her sister challenged her that she couldn?t write a detective book because by far they are the most difficult to write. Thus the seed of detective stories was sown.
She thought she would put her knowledge of working in a dispensary to use and thus began her first book ?The Mysterious Affairs at Styles?, which actually got published two years after she had written it. The Belgian refuges stationed at Torquay made her choose the nationality of Hercule Poirot.
As she was running short of money to keep the expenses at Ashfield, she embarked upon the second book ?The Secret Adversary?.
It was interesting to note that the plot of her most famous work ?The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?was influenced by a chance remark by her brother-in-law, James and also Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Miss.Marple came into existence much later and was inspired by Dr.Sheppard?s sister in ?The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? as well as her own grandmother who had an amazing sense of premonition.
She describes vividly her archaeological expeditions with Max Mallowan interspersed with odd tit-bits and trivia about the books and plays she has written, the writer?s block she faced (yaa she had her moments too) .
This memoir of the Queen of Crime ends with a note of ?Thank God for my good life and for all the love that has been given to me?, which is a befitting ending to the interesting chronicles of her life which seems to exude the warmth of the person who was Agatha Christie.
