This book has so much potential for me. I love historical fiction and I thought this would be so intriguing. I just found it very slow and not grabbing my attention enough to keep going.

Nina de Gramont delivers a captivating, thought-provoking treat in THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR, rich with character and suspense. An intensely observed and intelligent read: the pages will fly! High recommended.

I've always been fascinated by Agatha Christie's disappearance and I absolutely loved this take on that time period! This book has a something for everyone. This is a thrilling historical mystery. Un-put-down-able!

3.5 stars rounded up

I have been a fan of Agatha Christie since I was a kid and a fan of historical fiction since about the same time. This book married two of my favorite things together in a fascinating way. This story focuses on the very real disappearance of Agatha Christie on December 3, 1926. The story is narrated by Nan O'Dea who is a facsimile of the very real mistress that Ms. Christie's husband had. I wish that this book had focused more on the disappearance of Agatha as opposed to Nan's backstory. It was interesting to find out the motives of Nan but I found myself wanting more out of the story. The entire thing was a little bit underwhelming to be completely honest. This book had such a great premise and I just felt that the plot didn't live up to it. The writing was really good, I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

On a cold December night in 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared, leaving her car, her fur coat and her belongings behind. No trace of her was found for 11 days even though the police force was alerted to search in several surrounding counties. This is a fictional account of what happened in those 11 days. mostly from the perspective of Mr. Christie's mistress, named Nan O'Dea in this book.
The story goes from 1926 during the affair and after the disappearance, to Nan's past life growing up and meeting the love of her life, Finbar, in Ireland. What would cause this woman to give up her love and start an affair with a married man, especially one she doesn't seem to even like, much less love? This story follows the account and by the end everything falls into place.
I had a hard time getting into this book, and it wasn't until about 60% through that it caught my attention and then I couldn't put it down. By the end, I really enjoyed it and it was well worth continuing reading.
I received a complimentary advance reader copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

“The Christie Affair“ by Nina de Gramont takes places in 1926 and delves into the true life event of author Agatha Christie’s disappearance. When her husband, Archie, tells Agatha he is leaving her for his mistress, Nan, Agatha mysteriously disappears. While Agatha never tells us what transpired in the eleven days she was missing, this book took an interesting take on things.

The fictional story is told primarily by Nan. She explains why she began the affair with Archie and explores secrets of her past. I felt this is done in a matter that was intended to excuse her behavior, which I didn't appreciate.

In attempts to stay out of the public view during the search for Agatha, Nan goes to a nice hotel to wait it all out. Coincidentally, while she is there, a newly married couple is murdered, and another mystery transpires.

In a few ways this book does mimic the true events that took place leading to Agatha’s disappearance, but I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. Their behaviors seemed very selfish, and much of the plot line was unnecessary. Nan paints a very interesting story, but I wanted more from Agatha! There are so many wonderful and interesting plot points, but they left me with many questions.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Agatha Christie has a story to tell, well actually Nan O’Dea has a story to tell. Nan O’Dea has caught the attention of Agatha’s husband and plans to marry him. As with any story it is not quite that simple of a story.
Nina de Gramont, the author, did an amazing job with the twists and turns, the truths and the lies, the victories, and the losses in the life of Nan O’Dea. She has her reasons for needing to be part of Archie Christies life. Her need to be in his life is so real and so heartbreaking. I knew throughout the entire story that there was more to Nan’s story than was being told.

The Christie Affair is a wonderful mystery telling the story of a well-known mystery author. I enjoyed learning more about her life. A cheating husband in 1920’s is very much like a cheating husband in the 2020’s, yet the mistress and the wife have very unique stories to tell in this book, during this time.

This book was not at all what I thought it was going to be! It’s told from Nan’s, the mistress, POV which was really interesting. I had a love/hate relationship with her, more hate than love at first because she is the reason Agatha’s husband left her, and I’ll always feel sorry for the wife first. With every story I have read the more you learn about the hated character the less you hate them, and that’s true with this story.

It was heartbreaking to read Nan’s story, but it was so important to the story. There were events that unfolded that I did not piece together, and I thought it was genius.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this story, and I would recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a gifted copy of The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont. All opinions are my own.

The Christie Affair follows Agatha Christie during her eleven days she went missing and follows Nan O'Dea in her present and past. The story is told by Nan and it is her version of what happened during those eleven days.

I loved Nan's backstory and would have loved a book about a women named Nan and her story. The fact that she was Archie Christie's mistress made it hard for me to follow Agatha's storyline. Nan wasn't behind the closed doors but she told Agatha's story. This is just a personal preference and I can see where Christie fans might enjoy this creative imagination of what might of happened during those eleven days.

I do appreciate that author did not include any spoilers to Agatha Christie's books. As a reader and Christie fan this is greatly appreciated.

My favorite part of historical fiction based on real people is the author's notes. Sadly, this one does not contain author's notes.

General Fiction (adult)
Historical Fiction
Release Date: February 1, 2022

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review! I love historical fiction and this story deals with multiple different time lines. There is so much intrigue behind Agatha Christie and her very private life, It was so interesting to hear this "perspective"

In 1926, renowned mystery author Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. When found, she claimed not to remember anything, a story she stuck to for the rest of her life. From there the mystery is filleted down to its two main players, Agatha and husband, Archie, into which is inserted a fiction arguably far more interesting than the actual events. What is known is that Archie and Agatha argued on December 3, 1926, after which he left to spend time with his mistress, Nancy Neele, and Agatha disappeared without a trace. Agatha did not stay missing, so we have the beginning and the end; but what about the middle?

Recalling her earlier life, our fictional Nan recounts her childhood, her teenage pregnancy, her forced convent incarceration, her daughter’s birth, and Finbarr’s (Nan’s childhood sweetheart and the baby’s father) ignorance of her whereabouts, even after her escape. Despite her undying love for Finbarr, Nan sets her sights on Archie Christie, winning him over with ease. Thus begins the tangled web of Nan’s introspective story, gradually shedding light on her choices and motivations.

Readers are immediately drawn to the congenial Nan as she talks informally to us, sometimes questioning whether we have figured something out before she has had time to explain it, sometimes asking us to defer judgment and just listen. In 1926, the complex supporting cast plays out their roles superbly in a cleverly contrived plot. Through young Nan’s ordeal, we get an unpleasant immersion in Irish history―Catholic convents, abused girls, molestation by priests, endless punishment for fabricated sins, forced adoptions, and pious nuns who turn a blind eye.

An engrossing work which lends itself well to circumstances Agatha herself chose to stay mum about, and which remains one of England’s most fascinating unsolved mysteries.

I received a copy from NetGalley; this is my honest review.
TRIGGER ALERT: Enough details/talk/trauma about a priest raping pregnant single-mothers and nuns turning a blind eye. This is the only reason my rating is not 5 stars. I'm not sure why it couldn't have been like at 91% where it just sums up what horrors occurred but w/o any details, you just understand. Details increase after the 45% mark.
-Door closed bedroom scenes. Except the rapes.
-By 68%, we've heard ~7 times that Agatha would be horrified by all the fuss, and it didn't end there. BTW, she didn't make that big of a fuss.
-You have to laugh for Christie's writing to be described as an eccentricity since it paid, amongst other things, for two luxury cars.
-I loved to hear about the Chinese legend for couples.
-I thought it ironic that Nan was unfaithful to her lover right beside his wife. I have no pity for Archie, though.
-The back and forth in time is easy to follow and by the title of the chapter you know who's story it's going to be.
-I liked the description of the buildings, the furniture, even the clothing; everything is lavish when in present times.
-By the time Arthur Conan Doyle left with the gloves, I was laughing so hard, I almost fell off the sofa. I hope Fraser took the news well.
-At the end, when the mysteries are being explained, I was like: "What!?", "OMG", "No way". A good Christie mystery but mainly about Nan instead of Agatha, which is a shame. The book was supposed to be about Agatha.
-My heart broke for both Nan and Finnbar; why not try to share the daughter between the four of them instead of all this pain? Replace Honoria with Nan or something even. Finnbar was right when he said "I'm right here and she's not".

I really enjoyed this fictional reimagining of the 11 days of Agatha Christie’s mysterious and largely unexplained disappearance in December 1926.

I won’t go into details, but there are several plot lines to follow. The story is told both as firsthand knowledge and conjecture by Agatha’s first husband’s mistress, Nan O’Dea. There’s adultery, lies, secrets, two murders, two romances, surprising alliances and heartbreaking sadness/helplessness.

While I did find myself frustrated with both Agatha and Nan at times, this was very well done and a fascinating read.

My sincere thanks to #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress and the author for providing me the early arc of #TheChristieAffair for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

A fictional mystery/romance about the true life events that incapsulate the eleven days when Agatha Christie went missing. An extremely creative and transportive masterpiece that covers all genres and all facets of life and takes a daring look inside what could have possibly happened to the author when no one could find her. A beautiful and timely love story about feminine oppression, tragic love, and human resilience.

Agatha Christie discovers her husband is cheating and flees her home out of anger. The story begins with Nan as the narrator and switches timelines, flipping between Agatha and Nan and how they lived leading up to Agatha’s disappearance.

I can’t get over how incredibly well written this book is and its ability to incorporate real life mystery with the human condition. A stunning and often times heartbreaking depiction of the female struggle and the ability to rise above and overcome rape, the loss of an infant, and infidelity. A truly stunning novel that spans a lifetime of secrets, tragedy, and love!

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont is one of the best books I've read lately. It is the story of Agatha Christie's missing 11 days. It is fiction, of course, but as good an explanation as any other. It is written from the viewpoint of Archie Christie's girlfriend, Nan, and also features her life story. It is creative and intelligent and heart breaking. It has several themes but one is a mother's love and where it might take one. The characters were well developed and interesting. Christie came to be the most popular author in the world, but these were early days, when she had just written a couple of books. It was also a lesson in national hysteria, her disappearance provoking a nation-wide search comprised of hundreds of police and volunteers. It ended in amnesia, but did it really? She never spoke of those days the rest of her life.

A well-written book, the prose was lovely and flowed well. The pacing of the novel was perfect as was the character development as much of the novel was told in memory, mostly Nan's memories. We came in touch with the Magdalen homes in Ireland in the early 20th century as well as residue from the Great War. The Christie Affair was full of the mores of the time period and how they affected people. It was definitely a multi-layered book. Kudos Ms de Gramont.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Christie Affair by St Martin's Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #netgalley #stmartinspress #thechristieaffair #ninadegramont

A quest, murder mystery, romance, and revenge
The Christie Affair is centered around Agatha Christie’s eleven days disappearance. It is told from the point of view of the Agatha’s husbands mistress, Nan O’Dea. This is Nans story with a bit of Agatha. While we get Nan’s voice; her backstory, we also get plenty information from the other characters. There is various timelines and locations which are all interconnected as you progress through the book and ties up cleverly for the perfect ending. Nan’s story is interesting and dark. There’s murder involved during the eleven days in question and once the murder mystery was revealed I thought that was a brilliant twist. Once all the facts / backstory of Nan’s life/suffering and the reason she became Colonel Christie’s mistress were revealed I found myself liking her a bit even though she broke up a marriage.

Reviewed by Comfy Chair Books/Lisa Reigel (January 28, 20220
ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley
Also bought via Brenda Novak Monthly Book Club Box (March)

This book threw me for a loop and what a wild loop it was! I went in thinking it was going to be a traditionally told story, and it was the exact opposite. You will muddle through the first few chapters, trying to get a feel for what Nina de Gramont is trying to do. Once you have your footing, it is an intense wild ride. Filled with exquisite vivid descriptions which grab your attention and do not let you go. The characters are richly layered with their own intense backstories. As their stories become known; you will begin rooting for characters whom you detested in the beginning. This is not like any book I have ever read. I loved the uniqueness in which it was told. Bringing you back to December of 1926, when Agatha Christie went missing for eleven days.

Nina de Gramont paints a work of art with The Christie Affair. She takes a historical story and shapes and molds it into her own mystery. No one truly knows what happened for those eleven days, why do we not make up a story that is pieced together with facts? The story is told through Archie Christie's mistress, Nan O'Dea. As she tells you what she thinks happened when Archie asked Agatha for a divorce and what lead to her disappearance. It also brings in Nan's own history and why she became Archie's mistress to begin with. It is fantastically written, well developed, and will take you on one crazy adventure.

Once I figured out what was going on, the book smoothed out and became an entrancing mystery. It also led me to do some intense googling of the Christie's and what happened during those eleven days. It is such an intriguing, unique take that you will let the book take ahold of your own imagination and run with it. Thank you to Nina de Gramont, St. Martin Press, and NetGalley for sending me this enticing read.

Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days in December of 1926. Her disappearance led to one of the largest man hunts in history. Where was she? What happened? This is a novel of what might have occurred and why.

Archie, Agatha’s husband, has a mistress. Her name is Nan. She has a particular past which she is trying to keep hidden. However, as usual, things tend to come to light. But, it does not stop her from working her way into the lives of the Christie’s. Why? Why is Nan so determined to be a part of their lives? You must read this to find out!

There is a lot of history in this book but I wanted more. I actually expected more. I do not know much about Agatha. This is just a “want” from this reader. I felt like the novel was missing something. Maybe more of a connection with Agatha. But, it still a good book not to be missed.

Need a unique take on a historical mystery…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

I admit that when I first started reading this book, I expected a fairly tame historical mystery graced by the fictional presence of the grandmaster of mystery writing herself, Agatha Christie. Purporting to advance a theory that explains Dame Christie’s eleven-day disappearance in the 1920s, The Christie Affair reads at first much like the absorbing works of Paula McLain and Gaynor Arnold: solidly researched historical fiction that sensitively explores the emotions of the women involved in turbulent events. It did, however, show itself surprisingly willing to lean into a less than decorous – but very much appreciated by this reader – rage against the horrors committed against women in the early 20th century.

But at about the 72% mark, I realized that this novel, fictionalizing the relationship between Agatha and the woman who replaced her in her marriage to Colonel Archie Christie, was something much more than even the best of its contemporaries in the historical fiction genre. The further I read, the more I was dazzled by what I discovered was also an extremely clever sleight of hand, as Nina de Gramont spins several different and seemingly unrelated mystery threads before snapping them all together into a breathtaking tapestry of crime and heartbreak and, most importantly, communion and grace.

Of course, grace is the last thing our ostensible heroine Nancy O’Dea is expecting from her lover’s wife. She’s worked hard to supplant Agatha in Archie’s affections, and seems far more scheming than sympathetic. She is, as we quickly come to understand, fully cognizant of how much lesser she is morally than the woman whose role she’s trying to usurp:

QUOTE
It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. First comes rage, larger than any you’ve ever imagined. It takes over your body so completely it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. It conveys a strength you never knew you possessed. Your hands, harmless until now, rise up to squeeze another person’s life away. There’s a joy to it. In retrospect, it’s frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet, the way justice feels sweet.

Agatha Christie had a fascination with murder. But she was tenderhearted. She never wanted to kill anyone. Not for a moment. Not even me.
END QUOTE

Though Nan very badly wants to marry Archie, she counsels him to wait to ask Agatha for a divorce till after the latter has had more time to grieve the death of her beloved mother some months prior. Impatient Archie goes ahead and gives Agatha the break-up speech anyway, resulting in a quarrel that has both himself and his now definitely estranged spouse heading hotly in different directions: him to a weekend house party and her, later that night, on an impromptu road trip. Nan herself has already made plans to spend some time in Yorkshire, in order to lie low and out of any immediate scandal that might result from the split of a famous author and her husband.

But then Agatha’s car is found abandoned on the edge of a quarry near her house, with her luggage still inside. As a manhunt, fueled by a slow press season hungry for sensational stories, gets underway to find the missing novelist, Nan finds herself pulled back into Agatha’s orbit in a battle of wills where love is the ultimate prize and murder a necessary tool of retribution.

My heart both fluttered and ached for the Atonement-like ending, and while the details of the story as written are different enough from the historical facts to make it clear that this is a work of fiction, oh, how I wanted this to be a true chronicle. Ms de Gramont does amazing work here, balancing a fair play murder mystery plot worthy of Dame Christie herself with the kind of characterization that, she dryly notes, the more famous author often skipped over in favor of stereotypes:

QUOTE
Agatha was a rational, practical, contained Englishwoman. How fond her novels were of categorizing people. A woman does this, an American does that, Italians are just like this. Perhaps she felt comfortable with these generalities because she fit her own so splendidly. Stiff upper lip, a fine English lady.

Now she had abandoned her natural character, thanks to me. At the same time, what she did best was spin stories. Plot. All of this had the air of a plot, a way to remind Archie how much she meant to him.
END QUOTE

Rooted in fact and reason but charged throughout with emotion and imagination, this is an extraordinary murder mystery novel that dares to invoke the spirit of Dame Christie and succeeds. I could not stop reading that last quarter of the book, so invested was I in the happiness of all the characters I’d come to care for in the course of reading it. I highly recommend this to any reader, but especially to those willing to explore with empathy the many mysteries of the human condition.

I liked this, but didn't love it. This is a slow-paced novel and the prose is fine. It's a good historical fiction/mystery. Having Archie Christie's mistress/second wife narrate the story of Agatha's disappearance was a unique choice, and I enjoyed the twists in the story that made this choice perfect. Nan O'Dea's tragic backstory was hard to read, though, and honestly, had I known some of those details in advance, I wouldn't have picked up this book. I understand that they are critical to some of the twists that come later, but they are still elements that I don't willingly read. So my advice is to seek out content warnings and decide if those plot points are things you can handle. I think that colored my overall impression of the novel, as I'd love to be able to scrub them from my brain.