Well well well welllllllllll what a delicious little book The Christie Affair turned out to be.

The mystery of Agatha Christie's 11 day disappearance has fascinated me for years. While I did enjoy the Drunk History version of the events, I must say, that I quite like this version as well. Nina de Gramont has created a historical fictional tale of those 11 days, told through the eyes of Archie Christie's mistress (loosely based on his actual mistress.)

We follow the young and ambitious Nan, from her secret meeting with Archie, to a quick lunch with Agatha, to her weekend away. She weaves that tale of her previous life in Ireland....and what has happened to Agatha. We know that Nan is NOW the new Mrs. Christie....but how did she get there. All the while, we find out what is happening while Nan is at the hotel/spa for her weekend. Why...it's a tale as exciting as...well, as exciting as an Agatha Christie novel.

de Gramont has written two different books, woven them together into a excellent story. Both would be good on their own, but together they make a compelling read. It's a story of secrets, of revenge, of passion, of murder, of rage, of mothers, of fate.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest opinion.

This reimagination of what happens during the true story of 11 days in 1926 when famous author Agatha Christie disappeared without a trace is an intriguing story of love, loss and murder.

Woven together are the not so distant past and the current events happening in 1926. Interesting characters throughout make this a great read. Beautiful descriptions of the scenery make you feel like you are there. The back and forth on who you are actually rooting for keep you reading and reading. And a couple little surprises I did not see coming!

I have never read Agatha Christie and now I want to go and read all her books!

This is a re-imagining of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century....the mystery of Agatha Christie's disappearance.
I knew that this book was historical fiction. I was drawn in by the cover and the subject matter. What I was a little disappointed to realize once I began reading was that it was mainly just fiction.... there was very little actual fact to the book. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable read if you can just read it for the good story that it was meant to be. The story is told from Nan O'Dea's perspectve. Nan was the woman Archie Christie was involved with when Agatha dsappeared. This is good for any fiction lover.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my copy of The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont in exchange for an honest review. It publishes February 1, 2022.
Wow, just wow! To avoid spoilers of any sort, I’ll keep it vague. But if you enjoy an Agatha Christie style book, you’ll love this one! I’m desperate to read and watch some Agatha Christie stories after finishing this to keep the feeling. Well-written, interesting, frankly hard to put down. What else could you want?

don’t know a lot about Agatha Christie, but reading the synopsis of Nina De Gramont’s The Christie Affair, I was eager to read about her eleven day disappearance in 1926, after her husband told her he was leaving her.

While the concept for this book was great, and I enjoyed the bits of mystery thrown in, there wasn’t a lot to do with Agatha Christie until closer to the end - this mostly focuses on (and is told in the POV of) Archie Christie’s mistress Nancy O’Dea. I did enjoy the chapters of her backstory though, and would have enjoyed more of that and how she came to fall in love with Agatha’s husband.

Overall, I liked this one, but would have been more enjoyable had I known it wasn’t all about Christie’s disappearance.

Excellent story, thoroughly enjoyed every character and every twist! Thank you #NetGalley#StMartinsPress#TheChristieAffair

A historical fiction novel that covers the mysterious 11-day disappearance of famous mystery writer Agatha Christie. This was a difficult book for me to get into as I thought the beginning was a little slow and confusing. Thank you, NetGalley.

👥Less Agatha, more Nan, but interesting tale📝

3.5-4.0 🌟 stars
This story's start was not so promising but it got better as it progressed. I ended up liking it, interested and invested in several of the characters and their fate, especially Nan's Irish lover Finbarr and Genevieve. I also liked the addition of some suspicious deaths that made for a mini murder mystery (and its solution) as part of the events. However, I had a few issues.

I found presenting the story from Nan's point of view, especially when she was uninvolved in a number of scenes and could not reasonably know what transpired, awkward. At times, it just seemed a mistake and I could not distinguish if Nan was making her own observations or those of the other characters.

The author also put together some totally unrealistic scenes, The way Agatha encounters Finbarr as she leaves home was the major one; Nan and Finbarr meeting up in London was another. Too much coincidence! She also threw in comments about technological advances that I felt were anachronistic in a story taking place in the 1920's. And sometimes the shifting timeline is confusing.

But the big surprise for me was the fact that Agatha is an important but not the lead character in this story reconstructing the eleven days of her disappearance in 1926. Nan O'Dea, the omniscient narrator, is actually the lead character; this is largely her story with a bit of Agatha on the side. Agatha led a privileged life and Nan suffered some major tragedy that probably made for a superior life story. But that title and the blurb had me thinking this would focus a lot more on Agatha's disappearance.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

There were things I really liked and things I was just kinda meh about with this book
The concept of seeing what happened when Agatha Christie disappeared? Awesome

The random murder mystery thrown in that was mentioned at the beginning and at the end and solved in just a couple pages? Ehhhh.

I liked the writing and the basic storyline! But there were just a few things that made it not five stars for me.

I received this book in exchange for review

This book was very intriguing and surprising! I really enjoyed the twists and turns and the writing style!

The Christie Affair was totally not what I was expecting when I opted to read it. I was looking forward to hearing the author's approach to where Agatha Christie was during her 11-day hiatus. The book does explore this, however, the story is told mostly from the viewpoint of Mr. Christie's mistress, Nan O'Dea. The story of Nan's past is the main premise of the book. The blurb does clearly state the book is about Nan. The misunderstanding was clearly my own.

Getting familiar with the author's writing style was difficult for me. The Christie Affair is told from differing viewpoints. I found it confusing to know when they switched. I love short chapters, and The Christie Affair had some very long chapters. The viewpoints would switch by paragraph in some places. Had I only read the first half of the book, I would have rated it three stars.

I am so glad I did not give up on this book! The Christie Affair does get better, and there are some nice twists you may not see coming! Overall, I would rate the book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions above are my own.

I know very little about Agatha Christie -- haven't read her books, watched a few movies, that's the extent of it. With Nina de Gramont's exceptional THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR, I am a transformed reader. Somehow Gramont has answered questions surrounding Christie's 11-day disappearance from the point of view of the other woman who stole her husband and blew up a predictable, comfortable, and anticipated life. Not only does she share the events that shaped profoundly unlikable person and rendered her softer, relatable, and admirable with immovable resolve. Ultimately, the book is all about love, for one's child, one's life, one's purpose, one's lover -- set within the years following the Great War and the scourge of influenza, the story immersed me in the trials, triumphs, and social milieu. I stayed up way too late reading this, at times confused between point of view and realizing it didn't matter that much -- such a rich, rewarding, insightful, beguiling read! I received an early reader copy of this novel and the opinions expressed are my own and are unbiased.

On the surface, The Christie Affair is about what happened to Agatha Christie during her 11 day disappearance. What we get is Nan O’Dea’s story, Archie Christie’s mistress. It starts in the present day, with Archie finally leaving Agatha and then Agatha disappearing. As the story goes on we learn about Nan’s past, mixed in with the present day events, which are told from Nan’s point of view - basically what she thinks happened to Agatha.

This story is a blend of historical fiction and mystery that includes a love story. Lots of twists and turns to this one. And while reading about Nan’s life was interesting, I would have liked more of Agatha’s POV.

The Christie Affair is out on February 1. Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have to admit…I really could not get into this book. It literally took me six months to read it. I kept putting it down in favor of other books then picking it up again, only to give up and read something else. There were moments in the story that were intriguing to me, but so often the construction was awkward, causing me to have to re-read to figure out what the author was actually saying.

I even made a note of the first time I felt like the book was finally making a bit of sense…almost a quarter of the way through it. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. One of the problems for me was that it was written in first-person omniscient, so Nan O’Dea told the story, but that character described what everyone else was doing and thinking and feeling, and it was confusing at times and kind of annoying to me.

It was an interesting idea for why Agatha Christie disappeared and then never spoke about what went on during those missing days, but I honestly can’t effusively recommend it. I’m going to give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. If you really want to read it, I’d recommend borrowing it from the library.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sending me a digital copy for review purposes. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my very own! 🙂

I generally enjoy reading and watching different ideas on what happened for those 11 days when Agatha Christie went missing but unfortunately this take on it wasn't for me.

Audiobook was wonderful! Great narration and an interesting look into one of the biggest authors most private moments.

What did I like? I’m not vapid enough to care about those illicit missing eleven days. Hard enough to deal with a scandal with her husband cheating on one of the greatest literary minds ever. The book takes some twists and turn through some of Agatha’s reasoning and the child’s parentage speculation. All very thought provoking but a painful story.

Would I recommend or buy? No, it gave me some awful feelings for Agatha and those eleven days will remain a mystery despite speculation. The book tries to breach beyond that but I myself could not.

I received a complimentary copy to listen to or read and voluntarily left a review.

I really loved this story by Nina De Gramont. It was well written and had me glued to my seat. The story was easy to follow, This was my first book of hers to read and I will definitely recommend this story to others.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

The Christie Affair delves in to the infamous 11 day disappearance of Agatha Christie which turned into a massive manhunt .

The Christie Affair offers an unique version of what happened in those 11 days and it is told by the Nan who is as they say "the other woman".

The book combines, history, mystery and various view point throughout.

We will never know what actually happened but Nina de Gramont has offered a plausible explanation and one that is entertaining to read and consider.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an intriguing read.

Pub Date: 2-1-2022

“Some people are just born happy. I think that’s the luckiest thing. If you’re sunny inside, you never have to worry about the weather.”

In 1926, Agatha Christie drove away from her home and wasn’t seen again for 11 days. Once she was found, Agatha said that she couldn’t remember what happened. And to this day, no one knows for certain.

Before the disappearance, the story is told only from the perspective of the mistress of Agatha’s husband (Archie). During the 11 days where Agatha Christie was missing, the story adds Agatha’s perspective too.

Somehow this book was both heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. Garmont took a lot of liberties as far as what Agatha was really doing during her disappearance, but I liked it. I found almost all of the characters very likable, and the little murder mystery dropped in was a lovely nod to Christie.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly solve a crime I hadn’t invented. The point of a good detective story is to make it all obvious. You throw in enough variable so the reader doubts his own solution, then at the end he can be pleased with himself for figuring it out.”

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for the Advanced Readers’ Edition!

I received an ARC from the publisher and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I was drawn to The Christie Affair due to it being another book about the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie, a topic I had read about last year in another historical fiction book. And the fact that this one further leaned into the messiness of the situation by telling it from the perspective of Archie Christie’s mistress, Nan, also appealed to me.
But the execution was a bit mixed for me. I think part of it is that, whatever else she was as a person, Agatha Christie was clearly the injured party, so it takes a lot to sympathize with the other woman who brazenly inserts herself in a married man’s life, even if it does “take two to tango.” Nan clearly has no sympathy toward Agatha upon taking up with her husband, and spins a wild narrative about who Agatha is and what happened to her. At first I wasn’t sure what was happening, because it felt like the reader was in Agatha’s head, but as it became clear these were Nan’s imaginings, I felt dismayed at the lengths she went to to justify her position, especially as while Agatha has a lot going for her, it still didn’t mean Nan was any more sympathetic.
The timeline is also super confusing, and while I was able to follow it after a while, between that and the weird narrative voice choices, I found myself frequently feeling lost.
I think this book is well-intentioned, but didn’t do enough to overcome the lionized reputation of Agatha Christie the author, which is likely to be the biggest draw for most people reading. However, it is an intriguing book and I appreciate what it is trying to do, especially given that a couple authors have explored the topic before.