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.

In 1926 Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. Although there was much speculation regarding what actually happened, when she returned she simply stated that she didn’t remember what happened. Nina de Gramont now offers a re-telling of the events leading up to the disappearance as well as what happened while she was gone. This is also the story of Nan O’Dea, Archie Christie’s mistress and later his wife. It is the story of her stay at a Catholic home for unwed mothers. She always hoped that her Irish lover Finbarr would come for her and the baby, but when the child is taken for adoption her life goal becomes finding her daughter.

Getting away to consider her future, Finbarr finds Nan at her hotel and tries to convince her to return to Ireland with him. He is accompanied by Agatha, who is unaware of the massive hunt for the missing author. At the same hotel is a retired police inspector assigned to the hunt. As Archie deals with Agatha’s loss and the suspicions of the police, the four eventually meet. Agatha is finding freedom for the first time and the animosity that she felt toward Nan when Archie asked for a divorce is no longer evident. When a murder occurs at the hotel the inspector discovers a connection to Nan that jeopardizes everyone’s plans.

Nina de Gramont has written a story of love and loss. Nan’s loss has made her manipulative and desperate to find her child. Agatha’s loss of Archie leads to anxiety and her need to get away, but it also helps her find her independence. This is also a story of murder and retribution. Fans of Agatha Christie will be familiar with the speculation around her disappearance, but Nan’s story makes this well worth reading. I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin Press for providing this book for my review.

Not knowing much about the disappearance of Agatha Christie, I was intrigued by the premise of this book portraying a peripheral view where Mr. Christie’s mistress added to this mystery. This is one of my favorite time periods to read about and I love a good mystery but I found it to be more character driven than mystery-plot driven

This book was so good. It was a historical fiction account of the disappearance of Agatha Christie. This has always been a thing of fascination for me so I enjoyed this fictionalized version.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC of The Christie Affair! This cover is so fun and convinced me that I definitely needed to read the book!

Pub date: Feb 1, 2022

In one sentence: Most mystery fans know that Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days - but what they don't know is how Archie Christie and mistress Nan O'Dea were involved.

The multiple perspectives in this book were a highlight for me - they brought something fresh to a topic I'd read about before. I loved getting the chance to not only get inside Agatha's head, but also inside Nan's head (she's got a lot going on in there!) Nan is based on Archie's real life mistress Nancy Neele, and she's not your typical villain. Both Agatha and Nan are well drawn characters with complex motives, secrets, and multifaceted personalities. I found myself rooting for both of them throughout the story. And the ending? Well, I didn't see that coming.

If you like historical fiction with a bit of mystery, definitely give this one a try! 4.5 stars.

Posted to Goodreads 10/26/21, posted to Instagram 1/31/22.

As many Agatha Christie fans become aware of sometime after they start devouring her books and the TV/Film Adaptions of them, her real life can read like the fiction she wrote. Two events stick with people the most. First, there is her husband’s affair and their subsequent divorce. This is followed by the mysterious eleven-day disappearance of Agatha in 1926 causing a national manhunt and great speculation that she never explained. In The Christie Affair, author Nina de Gramont bravely tackles both from the perspective of the woman for whom Archie Christie left his wife for, Nan O’Day. Was your gasp as loud as mine? There are just some books one cannot pass up.

Opening Line

“A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman.”

True State of Affairs

The Christie Affair did not focus on Agatha or Archie Christie, save in their large roles in the events of the story. It would be more accurate to call it the Nan O’Day Affair since the fictitious Nan narrates her own story alternating past and present. Part of that involves an interesting style of narration in which she tells of the events that occurred with the Christies and others when she was not present as if she were. Anyone who has read one of those psychological thrillers with the unreliable narrator who may or may not be innocent will recognize the sensation of reading this style of narration.

Beginning at the point when Archie tells Agatha he means to end the marriage and wants a divorce, there is an introduction of the main players from Nan’s point of view. Nan is by no means a wide-eyed innocent and was deliberate in capturing Archie’s attention and love even while knowing she is the cause of a gentle, loving woman’s heartbreak. Nan O’Day admits to her role. Her dips into memories of her dark and painful past point to the cause of her affair with Archie and subsequent events that had her growing intimately acquainted with Agatha Christie. These effect, but do not deter her.

“I always admitted to admiring her as a person. I still admire her. Recently, when I confided this to one of my sisters, she asked me if I had regrets about what I’d done, and how much pain it caused. Of course I do, I told her without hesitation…simply adept at keeping secrets. In this way the first Mrs. Christie and the second are very much alike.” (22)

An Idyllic Escape

The bulk of the story takes place in Harrogate where Nan plans to spend time pursuing her own purpose, where Agatha has fled after Archie leaving her, and where two other surprising people join them in their separate though intersecting courses. There is murder, there is romance, and there is most definitely an untold story to explain the mysterious eleven days of Agatha Christie’s life.

“One more day undiscovered. Perhaps two. One more day exempt from time and repercussion. One more day dispensing with propriety and responsibilities. One more day as if her mother had never died, and her husband never left her- indeed if both of them had never existed at all, to cause her joy or pain.” (3755)

Some Praise and a Few Niggles

The Christie Affair brought out a mixed reaction in me. I was very struck by the author’s description of time and place that made it easy to imagine 1920’s Harrogate and WWI Ireland, the very different classes and lifestyles that cast the contemporary Nan and Agatha, and the author’s ability to invoke the reader’s thoughts and feelings.

However, the style of narration to have Nan ‘guessing-not guessing’ about events she wasn’t there to see and hear took me out of the story somewhat. I never got comfortable with it and wished that, if Nan had to narrate, that it had just been the parts involving her with an omniscient narrator or even Agatha narrating the other bits.

Another niggle I experienced was that I was none too keen on having the home-wrecker as my story source particularly for the first fourth of the book. To be fair, the blurb indicates this and I thought I was prepared and wanted it. Instead, I was tempted to set the book aside. I was immensely more comfortable when the story moved to Harrogate and I was confronted with a mystery and Agatha got up and dusted herself off to go on living and doing what she must, even taking a hand in solving said mystery. After reflection, I think the author meant me to, at the very least, feel ambivalent toward Nan no matter how tough her life was.

In the End

While this was more fiction than fact and ‘Nan’ and many others surrounding Agatha were sheer fabric of imagination, I enjoyed exploring a ‘what if’ for the famous Agatha Christie disappearance and appreciated the clever mystery and historical setting aspects. I had no trouble imagining I was getting a tale of post-WWI Britain with flashbacks to earlier both in England and Ireland. I can recommend it to others looking for historical fiction revolving around the most famous ‘Queen of Crime’.

“The Christie Affair” by Nina de Gramont
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Release Date: 02/01/22
Genre: Historical Fiction

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC! The first half of this book was probably 2 stars I almost dnf, but the last half sucked me in and was about 4 stars. The premise of the book was kind of confusing. I was wondering why we care about the first have. It’s dual timeline. POV is from Nan and she told each characters story. I think I would have enjoyed hearing Agatha’s POV.

Agatha and Archie Christie seem to have the perfect life. Marriage, wealth, and a beautiful daughter. The outside is not always what it seems. Behind closed doors Archie has a younger mistress Nan O’dea. Nan tells her story of being a mistress not for love or wealth, but a secret goal. On the night that Archie leaves Agatha for good she goes missing. For eleven days everyone is trying to find the famous Author. There are so many secrets and only one knows the whole truth.

Wow, this book was so so good!!!! As someone who is not coming in as a die-hard Christie fan, it was an interesting introduction to a theory on the authors disappearance! I actually did my own research after finishing this book and it was so fun to see the parallels and see where the author took some liberties!!!

The best way to describe this book is an onion. It has so many layers to it, and each story is interconnected in ways you can’t even imagine! It is mind blowing as revelation after revelation is brought to light and all these clues start clicking together!

The characters are really well done and while not always likeable, the reader is at least able to understand the decisions made and why. I’m still reeling and just having such a hard time putting my thoughts into words without spoiling the story!

Christie fan or not, if you enjoy a good mystery with multiple layers this one is for you!!!! It will leave you wanting to read it again as I think with each reread more will be revealed!!!!

Thank you to Nina de Gramont, St Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

“An emotional sort. As if there were any other kind of human. Show me an unemotional sort and I’ll show you someone dangerous.”

What could have been better?
It started off really interesting, but then? It got so SLOWWWWW. Like too slow. I had a hard time immersing myself in the story and it felt like there was too much going on by the end.

What I enjoyed?
Very cool idea and concept! I love alternate history stories where the blanks are filled in with someone’s imagination!

There was a reveal and mystery element that was pretty cool too and it had some great commentary on convents/orphanages and missing women that I enjoyed.

This would fall under okay for me. Not bad but not great either!

Agatha Christie was a well known author writing sixty-six novels as well as fourteen short stories. Her name was known far and wide so when quite mysteriously Agatha went missing for eleven days, everyone was in an uproar. Certainly this disappearance was the stuff of Mrs Christie's novels. One thousand policemen joined in the search as well as civilians and the famous Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers.

The newspapers had a field day wondering what happened and of course adding some spectacular items to the disappearance. Her car was found near a pond called The Silent Spring so this place definitely of intense interest. Scouring the lake, Agatha was not found. Her husband, Archie, was also a suspect as he was a philanderer and had a mistress. However, Agatha with all the people looking remained wherever she was until she was found at a hotel named Harrorgate supposedly not remembering a thing. She had changed her name assuming that of her husband's mistress. She seemed to be enjoying life and had met a number of upper class people who frequented that hotel.

In this book, Nina de Gramont visualizes for the reader what might have transpired. Of course, one must acknowledge that all of this is conjecture, but I found it to be clever conjecture indeed. This is a strange tale and of course over the years many have guessed as to the cause. However, Agatha went to her grave without letting anyone know what had really happened over the eleven days.

I enjoyed the story and the guessing game the author led us through. Although somewhat long, it was an entertaining story that kept me busy during a long car ride home.

Thank you to Nina de Gramont, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this story that will publish on February 1, 2022

THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR by Nina de Gramont is an intriguing re-imagining of one of the most highly publicized, unsolved mysteries in the literary world, the disappearance for eleven days in December, 1926 of author Agatha Christie. On December 3, 1926, Agatha Christie’s husband told her he was leaving her for his mistress. That evening, Agatha drove off from her home. Later her car was found abandoned along with her driver’s license and some clothing. She remained missing for eleven days before being discovered staying at a hotel. She never revealed her reasons or what she did for those eleven days. This fictional story is told from the point of view of Archibald Christie’s mistress (and later his second wife), referred to as Miss Nan O’Dea in this story (Nancy Neele in real life). As the story progresses, Nan gradually reveals her heart-wrenching backstory and her reasons for wooing Archie away from Agatha. Nan’s narrative tells what she imagines were Agatha’s motivations for her disappearance. Agatha Christie is really a secondary character in this book with Nan taking center stage. Like a good Agatha Christie novel, there is also murder mystery to be solved. The two storylines become entwined as the final twist is revealed. I enjoyed this creative and entertaining take on a real-life mystery and highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

The Christie Affair tells a fictional account of the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie. As a thriller/mystery reader, I'm sorry to say I'm quite unfamiliar with her famous disappearance. So with the promise of “star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder” wrapped around Agatha Christie's disappearance, I jumped at the chance to request this.

Multiple storylines thread this novel - Agatha, Archie Christie, Nan (Archie’s mistress), and the inspector. But mainly, the story focuses on Nan’s POV. She’s an interesting character, one who believes in lucid dreams or lucid living. Nan retells her history, which is sad and heartbreaking. But for 80% of the novel, I could not figure out what her history had to do with Agatha Christie’s disappearance. Instead of the storyline being intriguing, I found it meandering and confusing. I love a good mystery, and this one did have a good twist but took too long to arrive.

I did enjoy Lucy Scott’s narration of #TheChristieAffair and I look forward to her future narrations. But as for the story itself, if you’re looking for the retelling of Agatha’s disappearance, I think you’ll be disappointed. The story is really about Nan while using Agatha’s disappearance as a side story.