This book is a fictional account of the true life mystery of Agatha Christie disappearing for eleven days in 1926. It’s narrated by her husband’s mistress. I found this somewhat disconcerting since there was no way she could have all the information about Agatha and tell it objectively. The bigger part of the book is the narrator, Nan O’Dea’s story. It’s quite a story that could be a book on its’ own. I might have enjoyed it more that way. I have read other reviews that mentioned a couple of other fictional books about Christie’s disappearance. I definitely will look into those. I chose to read this book based on it being about Agatha Christie so I was a bit disappointed. That said, the narrator’s story was great with quite a few surprises.

I was going to do 4 stars but the twists at the end had me bump it up. I never figure things out in books. So Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days in December 1926. She claimed amnesia and that was that. I do not believe it for one second. Her mom had died months earlier and her husband wanted a divorce. She needed to get away for a time. Also, she used the ruse of amnesia for someone's disappearance in one of her books before her disappearance so... This story is very different because the narrator is Mr. Christie's mistress. I definitely can see why some people did not like this author's version of events but I found it fascinating how it all came together at the end. Like an Agatha Christie book, this one has a murder that also needs to be solved. The narrator also talks to the reader, which I'm sure some people don't like, but I liked it. Of course I looked up Agatha Christie's disappearance and she never said anything about it even in her autobiography. Very mysterious. While the eleven days are told through the mistress' eyes, we also go back 7 years and get the mistress' back story. I think after reading this that I would like to read an Agatha Christie book.

i had a hard time with the book. I didn't really enjoy the book because I felt it was slow, it was a DNF for me.

Real life is complicated. Thus, an episode like the mysterious 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie nearly a century ago has given us not one, but two entertaining books. Is there room for both books in the life of a reader or does reading one sufficiently settle the issue? I would say, the more the merrier. This new release from Nina de Gramont has a dreamy quality to it. Early on the concept of lucid dreaming is introduced and at times our principal narrator seems to be carrying that concept forward into her waking life. One thing I appreciated about this book was the creativity in using Archie Christie's mistress as the primary voice. Thus we have the opportunity to view Agatha from the outside for the most part. I also loved the way the twists and turns of the plot are an homage to the many plots that we have enjoyed from Agatha Christie's pen. One note of warning: the Catholic Church, the marriage sacrament, and adoption are given some hard knocks. My rating is 3.5 rounded up.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

While the plot of this book was interesting, the way the book was written was very off-putting for me. The book was supposed to be written from the mistress, Nan's point of view. However, it seemed to flip all over the place with who was "narrating" and could change in the middle of a chapter. It was a little difficult to follow. I also found the two plot lines of Nan's past the present timeline to work against each other. I would get into one storyline only for it to change to the other on the next page. Agatha Christie was a side character in this book and I would have liked to see more about her, even if it would have been based on Nan's imagination. I liked the plot and I'm interested to see the real story behind Agatha's disappearance and to see how the events played out in real life.

This novel is ostensibly an historical mystery designed to explain Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance after learning of her husband's affair and desire to leave the marriage. But this story -- told by Archie's mistress Nan O'Dea -- is merely a device for exploring much larger mysteries, both real and imaginary. The first half of the novel is confusing. What does Nan's backstory have to do with Agatha Christie's disappearance? And is she a reliable narrator given that she did not personally witness many of the events she describes. But this confusion is worth wading through as the second half of the novel takes off like a rocket. Not only does it contain a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, but it also depicts extremely painful historical events such as the deadly effect of depriving women with reproductive rights, resulting in suicide, botched abortions, and the enslavement of young pregnant women in Irish convents whose newborns were stripped away from them by the Church. Indeed, as Archie unwittingly remarks near the end of the book, this is the "age of disappearing women" that will break your heart. 5/5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this one.

On one hand, I struggled to connect with any of the characters other than poor Finbar, the sole somewhat likeable one. Because of that, I struggled to stay invested in their stories, and often found myself skimming entire chapters to just get on with it.

And yet, I think the whole point was to struggle to connect with them, because they're frankly awful, doing awful things for awful reasons with awful results.

Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't, and in this case I'm honestly not sure which it is.

There are moments of brilliance, to be sure, but for the most part I found myself more interested in the stories that weren't told than the one that was. The description makes you think the story is about Agatha's disappearance, but that's not really the case. Her disappearance is simply a reason to tell Nan's story, though it takes far too long to get to any kind of point. Honestly, I'd probably have enjoyed this more if it were just two women, and not supposed to be about a real person.

Sigh.

Maybe this is one that the farther you get from it, the more you enjoy it?

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but having the perspective of the mistress in Agatha Christie's marriage to husband, Archie, was well done. An interesting and well done fictional take on the 11 day mystery.

I love everything Agatha Christie. This story is told by the voice of Miss Nan O’Dea (this would be a close characterization of Nancy Neele in real life). I love the concept of what happened to Agatha the week she disappeared. Great read!

Note to self: read the description of a book more carefully before requesting it from netgalley.
I mean, the cover was beautiful and the idea that it’s based on the time period that Agatha Christie was missing and why sounded so promising.
Even that first line was a major hook. “A long time ago in another country, I nearly killed a woman.” Intrigued, right?
Well, I am so tired of books that are about adultery and infidelity. So within the first chapter, finding out the narrator was Mr. Christie’s mistress (yes, I realize that was mentioned in the description, this the note to self) and how she spoke about their affair just rubbed me wrong.
She even says, “Perhaps you’re finding it difficult to feel kindly toward a home-wrecker such as me. But I don’t require your affection.” Uh, no kidding. I definitely don’t feel kindly toward you. And how disgusting Archie is. Both women deserved better than him.
So I suppose this book just wasn’t for me from the beginning. The writing itself was done beautifully (clearly since it brought out such vehement emotions from me) and intriguing. I just hated the subject matter.

I wanted to love this retelling of Agatha Christie’s life so much! It is hard for me to describe what my struggles are without giving away spoilers but I will do my best. The premise sounded fascinating to me. I was excited to see what the missing days of Agatha Christie could have been like. I also loved the idea of seeing it through the lens of Archie’s mistress. I felt like I got to know Nan very well. She was fleshed out and well rounded as a character. I understood her intentions as the twists happened but this cannot be said for everyone in the main cast. I wanted to see more development in the main players. I enjoyed several plot twists but I felt the structure of the novel was difficult to follow along with the narrative style. The story jumps from the past to the present, first POV to third POV, and all knowing narrator to partial knowing narrator. I had to pay extra attention just to know who was being discussed and in what way. It felt like a lot of work.

All in all to say, the mystery was good but it felt forced with all the extra storylines. The characters were interesting but under developed for me. I was happy with several twists and turns but I struggled with the plotting and writing style. I just think I might be the wrong one for this retelling.

I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just finished reading this beautifully written novel, which imagines the true story behind Agatha Christie’s disappearance for eleven days in 1926. I thought this would be about Agatha, but ultimately it’s not Agatha’s story at all. I loved that this story focuses on Nan O’Dea, a fictional version of the mistress of Archie Christie, Agatha’s first husband. The story is told through Nan’s perspective, weaving Nan’s present and past together to create a narrative that was difficult to put down. I don’t want to say much on the story itself and spoil anyone’s journey with this book – I loved the characters and the twists the story takes along the way.

As I read, I did stop a few times to look up articles about Agatha Christie’s disappearance. Ms. de Gramont did an excellent job fitting this story in with the facts known about the disappearance. While this story is fiction, it feels as though Nan’s account really could have happened.

Highly, highly recommend The Christie Affair. It was just a beautiful, bittersweet read.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of both this book and the audiobook. I liked having the ebook to re-read and highlight quotes. You can’t go wrong reading it in print or listening to the story.

Eleven days

An interesting but very different tale of the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie for eleven days in 1925. It is a mystery within a mystery. It is told by Mr. Christie's mistress, Nan O'Day.

One day Agatha packs a bag and disappears. Her car is found, but not Agatha. It is quite a brilliantly written what if of a tale of those missing eleven days until Agatha is found again.

The story is mostly written about Nan O'Day the mistress, how she came to be in England and her reason for becoming a mistress to Mr. Christie. It is quite a story and a good one at that.

I wasn't sure about the ending, I really felt bad for the Irish fellow, but I guess life move in different directions. It was quite a twist at the end and I never expected that.

I listened to the audio book and I also read the book. It was a little harder to follow than some and that helped me to figure out where I was in the book. It did a lot of twisting, turning and going back and forth between past and present time.

Nan's story was quite sad and I understood her character a bit more as the story continued. It was almost three stories, Nan's story, Agatha's story and the story of the two of them and the ending.

I did enjoy reading the story and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Nina De Gramont for writing an interesting story, to St. Martin's Press for publishing it, and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

Speculative fiction about Agatha Christie's days away is making a comeback and I enjoyed reading Nina de Gramont's take on what she thinks happened during those days. I think any mystery lovers will walk away satisfied with this read, as well as fans of historical fiction, and of course Agatha herself.

4.5 stars

I received a complimentary Kindle book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Nina de Gramont, St. Martin’s Press. and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

OMG! I enjoyed this historical fiction book and it is the first novel that I have read by Nina de Gramont. This is not a real-life explanation of the details of Agatha Christie's disappearance in 1926. As it was explained in the blurb at NetGalley and Goodreads, it is told from the point of view of a fictional character, but based on a real person.

There was such a spiderweb of deceit, lies, horror, and deception involved in this novel. It covers everything from the Irish Adoption scandal to WWII soldiers to adultery and to a spa hotel in England. So many diverse and creative places and stories wrapped in a totally creative license that makes an incredible story.

I know that this is a fictionalized historical novel. But it was fun to imagine where Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. Hopefully, it was a happy ending!!

Now, I definitely need to re-read some Agatha Christie novels!!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

This is just a gorgeously written story. It has mystery and romance wrapped up in historical fiction. It tells the story of the two Mrs. Christie’s. There is Agatha Christie the author who is wife number one and Nan O’Dea the mistress who becomes wife number two. The story is told from different characters points of view and also different times. Giving the story a sort of oral presentation make it flow really well and it is easy to follow along. The characters are bold and vibrant with each setting capturing the mood just right. This is a story that will make a great book club read.

So this was NOT what I was expecting. I know very little about Agatha Christie’s disappearance,except for that one Doctor Who episode, and so I was so excited to find out more or at least an interesting tale. I got the later. This had a making of a Christie mystery, but you figured it out way quicker. I had just finished a similar type of missing person story before this so it was hard keeping them straight, but that is not the author’s fault. I loved the back and forth and the “Count of Monte Cristo” like feel the story had. And I enjoyed being right there when everything unraveled. I have another Christie disappearance book on my tbr this year, so I’m excited to see how it compares.
Solid mystery. Enjoyable characters and storyline. Recommended!

I was really looking forward to reading The Christie Affair, but the book really disappointed me. I had such a hard time staying focused with the writing style and the back and forth with the different point of views along with the different timelines. I loved the plot and the mystery building of revealing the plot was great. I just didn't care for the way it was executed. It became confusing at times.

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

You all know that I am a huge Agatha Christie fan, so when I saw this fictional story of her mysterious disappearance, I knew it was a must read for me.

Told through the eyes of Nan, Archie Christie's mistress. Archie is ready to leave Agatha and move on with Nan; but when Agatha finds out she leaves- beginning an 11 day disappearance.

Let's start with the cover, it is absolutely stunning. It has that 1920's glam that I love. I was expecting a story strictly about Agatha but this story is mostly about Nan, and what brought her into the Christie's lives. It was a daring angle from the author, as Christie fans would not be a fan of the mistress...but Nan's story is one that I could empathize with. We slowly learn Nan's backstory and connect with her as the story unfolds.

I loved how this story could have been written by Christie. The murder, infidelity, mistaken identity, and mystry of it all was classic Christie. There was a bit of a lull in the middle, but once the twist hit, I was all in. 
This is out February 1st. I recommend this to fans of Agatha and anyone that likes a historical mystery.

🕯ARC BOOK REVIEW: The Christie Affair
Author: Nina de Gramont
Page Count: 320
Publish Date: COMING SOON: February 1, 2022
3.5/5stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

TRUE STORY: for eleven days in December of 1926, the famous detective novelist, Agatha Christie disappeared. This occurred following the death of her mother and sudden request for a divorce from her husband, who was having an affair. Agatha’s car is found abandoned with a suitcase and coat in the back, and the search for her became a wide spread event, with thousands of police and volunteers looking all over the country. From there, it only gets more strange and the reality somewhat mirrors her writing. When Agatha is returned home, she chose to not speak about what happened during her time away, and claimed amnesia…

So, what really happened? I guess we will never truly know. 🧐

In this new historical fiction novel, The Christie Affair, the story of Agatha’s disappearance is told in a unique way - it is given from the perspective of the woman who broke up Agatha Christie’s marriage. Although I had been hoping the story would be more focused on Agatha, because I’m a fan of hers, somehow this worked.

The author was able to make me curious about the home wrecker, Nan, through an intriguing backstory. I didn’t like Mr. Christie’s mistress as a person at all, but could have read a book solely on her. That says something about the author’s abilities, for sure. Since the story is told from her perspective, a lot of what happened to Agatha is what Nan imagined to have gone down…not sure I liked that.

Overall, I did love that it is based on a real incident in history and molded into fiction. That’s fun.

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4 for this review