The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

 

Title:  The Christie Affair

Author: Nina de Gramont

Narrated by:  Lucy Scott

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Length: Approximately10 hours and 23 minutes

Source: Review Copy from NetGalley. Thank-you!

 Where did Agatha Christie go when she disappeared for eleven days in 1926?  What books have you read recently with Irish characters or settings?

 The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont is the Brenda Novak Book Group selection for March.  I am looking forward to the meeting and interview with the author next week.

 The Christie Affair takes place during the eleven days that Agatha Christie disappeared in 1926.  I thought this book was about Agatha Christie, but it is actually about Nan O’Dea. Nan O’Dea is Archie Christie’s mistress, and she narrates the novel.  Why would Nan want to marry an already married man?  The novel goes back and forth between the past that brought Nan to this point and where Agatha and Nan end up during the disappearance. 

 This ended up being a good book for March as much of Nan’s past story was set in Ireland.  She had a great love, Finbarr who fought in the first World War.  She became pregnant with his child after his return from war.  As he is struck down with the flu epidemic, his parents take the unwed Nan to a convent to have her baby.  It is a traumatic experience.

 I enjoyed listening to this audiobook and the story was very engaging, especially once I let go of my preconceived notions that this was a book about Agatha Christie. It is historical fiction, but it is about real people.  It fictionalizes the lives of two real women, which I don’t know how I feel about.  I’m used to the story being true and the fiction part filling in the details.  In this book, fiction is made up about both characters and Agatha’s daughter.  I also wondered why everyone wanted Archie Christie.  He had no redeeming qualities. 

 The best parts of the book were unraveling the mystery of Nan, why she would want Archie Christie, and the romance between her and Finbarr.  The mysterious deaths at the spa and how it tied into everything were like an Agatha Christie novel.

 Lucy Scott was an entertaining narrator of the audiobook that kept me engaged.

 Overall, The Christie Affair was a good historical mystery about Archie Christie’s mistress.