agatha christie biography laura thompson

But, with access to all of Christie's letters, papers and writing notebooks, as well as interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christie's detective fiction, but the truth behind her private life as well. In this biography, Laura Thompson describes the Edwardian world in which she grew up, explores the relationships she had, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the mysteries still surrounding Christie's life - including her disappearance in 1926.Īgatha Christie is a mystery and writing about her is a detection job in itself. It has been 100 years since Agatha Christie wrote her first novel and created the formidable Hercule Poirot. is a pretty much perfect capturing of a life' - Kate Mosse The contents of that edition are identical to this one.'Laura Thompson's outstanding biography. The paperback edition was distributed in the United States by Trafalgar Square in 2010. One caveat: The verso of the title page gives a copyright date of 2018 and does not note that the book was originally published in Britain by Headline Review in 2007 under a different title, Agatha Christie: An English Mystery. I acted as her confidante, though I can assure you I didn’t influence the biography in any way. I’ve partly chosen it because it was being hatched around the time my mother died. You chose this rather than one of her two autobiographical books. The quotations from their jokey and sardonic letters to each other (often kidding on the square) are remarkable. On to Laura Thompson’s biography, Agatha Christie: An English Mystery. Thompson also does an exceptional job of vividly and even-handedly portraying the other major figures in her subject’s life, including her mother, both husbands, and daughter Rosalind, with whom she had an uneasy but loving relationship. More than anything else I have read, this may be the definitive last word on the most dramatic but misunderstood event of Agatha Christie’s life. The one point (clearly signaled) where Thompson turns to fictional techniques, following thoughts and activities of her subject which no one could possibly know, is in her speculative but plausible reconstruction of Christie’s 1925 disappearance, which is followed by a calm exposition of the actual evidence. Fans of Murder on the Orient Express wont want to miss out on this insight into the life of arguably the greatest crime writer in the world, as Laura. The author delves deeply into the psychology of her subject, using quotes from her detective novels and especially from her pseudonymous works as Mary Westmacott for insights into her beliefs and feelings, which can lead down a dangerous path but seems reasonable and apt here. While all have had points of interest, Thompson’s book may supersede Janet Morgan’s 1984 biography as the new standard.

There have been dozens of books about Agatha Christie, and I have read or at least glanced at most of them.

Agatha christie biography laura thompson