Thank you to St Martin’s Press for this earc copy of the Christie Affair!

I’m feeling a little indifferent about this book. There were a lot of plot lines and different situations the characters were put into that there’s a lot to unpack.

First let’s start with the positives. I loved the relationship between Nan and Finbarr. Their relationship was heartbreakingly beautiful, I found myself being heartbroken right along with them. The love and loss they endured was a lot to handle on the couple. Even more so with Nan, her child and the convent. I found myself just as angry as she was feeling. As I’m writing I’m realizing how much I enjoyed the story line with Nan. I feel like the parts involving Agatha are less important to the story and the focus should be spent on Nan.

Now the parts that didn’t work. The two or three sentences about how Alby died will haunt me. I can’t take it that was the worst part. I really hate reading about animal death so I wish that wasn’t included. Also, as I mentioned before, there’s a lot going on almost too many storylines. The main reveal of Nan’s motives was great, but I felt like the romance that Agatha had came out of nowhere and wasn’t necessary.

Overall, I think this is a solid historical fiction that fans of the genre and fans of history will enjoy!

Agatha Christie once disappeared for 11 days. She never gave a satisfactory explanation for it. The facts are few. I’m sure that if she ever would have disclosed the details, they would have come wrapped in a twisty plot with plenty of mystery, detectives and, of course, murders. Well, Nina de Gramont stepped up to give us just such a tale.

The historical facts are few. In December 1926, Agatha’s husband, Archie, announced he would divorce her and promptly left to spend the weekend with his mistress. Then Agatha decided to abandon their home and child. The only evidence left from her departure was her car containing her clothes, but not her typewriter, teetering on the edge of a quarry. Clearly, Agatha was not so despondent to consider abandoning her writing career. Suspecting suicide or foul play, the authorities launched a nationwide search. Eventually, Agatha was found at a spa in the rural village of Harrowgate. The story ends with Archie marrying his mistress, becoming their daughter’s custodial parent, and with Agatha continuing her successful writing career. With these meager facts as her framework, de Gramont crafted a devilishly clever Christie-esque story narrated, not by Agatha, but by Archie’s mistress, Nan O’Dea. While Archie’s real mistress was also named Nancy, she bears no resemblance to this Nan. The fictional Nan is lively, determined, conniving and, at her core, quite ruthless. Clearly, she is an unreliable narrator. A supremely unreliable narrator is not necessarily a serious flaw in today’s version of literary fiction. However, Nan’s uncanny ability to describe in detail events that she could never have witnessed can be unsettling.

Nan’s backstory is the novel’s primary plot driver. Most of the action that occurs during Agatha’s hiatus in Harrowgate stems from these events. These include idyllic summers in Ireland where she becomes romantically involved with a young neighbor called Finbarr; and the Great War removing Finbarr from the scene, but not before Nan becomes pregnant. Finbarr returns a damaged man and promptly gets the deadly Spanish flu. More of Nan’s turbulent history cannot be revealed without risking spoilers. Suffice it to say, it is indeed woeful.

Most of the action takes place at the Bellefort Hotel & Spa, a vacation resort in Harrowgate, also the scene of two murders. The characters converge here for a classical who-done-it reveal rivaling Christie’s best. De Gramont even folds in a romance for the spurned Agatha in the form of retired detective Clinton, a man tasked with finding her.

The narrative is cleverly structured notwithstanding occasional lapses into absurdity. It has multiple plot twists, well controlled pacing and a satisfying denouement. De Gramont also captures the times well including physical and psychological war injuries, the flu pandemic, and class issues extant in GB and Ireland. THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR should be a satisfying historical thriller for anyone, especially Christie fans.

When I was around twelve or thirteen, a neighbor who was moving, left me a gift of her paperback Agatha Christie books. The first one I read was And Then There Were None and for whatever reason, it is still my favorite. I realized when I read the description for A Christie Affair, that I knew nothing about her personal life and was excited to read this fictional look into her life.
Agatha's husband was a louse! Archie planned to leave her for his mistress, and that news was unexpected. She may have been a great crime writer, but he either was an exceptionally good liar, or she was just paying close enough attention to what was going on right under her nose. She did not take the news well.
The author tells her story from the perspective of the other woman, and we get a version of what could only be described as a sorry situation. The biggest mystery was where Agatha went for eleven days shortly after Archie delivered his news. I might have saved one of her great plotlines, making sure that Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple were nowhere near the scene of the crime, and given Archie a surprise he would never forget. But that is just me and I digress. It was interesting to see what happened through Nan’s (the lover) eyes and I did enjoy this book. However, I would have loved the fictionalized version to have been told through Agatha's eyes. Either way, no one has found a secret diary detailing the actual truth so we may never know. An original and quite an entertaining look at an unsolved mystery.

This book follows the true story of the 11 days in which Agatha Christie disappeared and hypothesizes what may have actually happened during that time. This book was so interesting! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I would love to read more by this author!

Based on a true event, this story tells one theory of the disappearance of Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie actually disappeared for eleven days and she was found at a spa, just as events in this story relate. For fans of a mystery, historical fiction, or Agatha Christie buffs, this story is well written and poses a theory of what really happened during those eleven days.

This book follows the story of Agatha Christie's disappearance for several days, and discusses what could have happened; all from the point of view of Agatha's husband's mistress Nan.
The story goes from the past, discussing some wrongs done to Nan, and then brings us to the "present," which is the time period during the disappearance. We get to meet Nan's one true love, Finnbar, and we also meet numerous other characters in Nan's life. We then learn what the most important thing in Nan's life is, her "lost" daughter, Genevieve.
Nan's youth was during the time of the war, and at that time there were many young ladies who became unwed mothers when their men were sent off to war. As a result of this, the churches decided to create many homes for unwed mothers to stay until they gave birth, to hide the disgrace they caused. These young women were not treated very well, and their children were usually taken to be put in an orphanage or given up for adoption; sometimes against their will. Nan is someone who had to endure this, and because of that fact her whole adult life revolved around her lost child.
I really enjoyed this telling of the story of Agatha's disappearance, and I would recommend the book to anyone who is looking for a great book on that topic.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's St. Martin's Press for this arc, I wish I had loved it more. It was disappointing that we didn't get more from Agatha's POV because to me, Nan's POV was not interesting at all. The writing was good, but the story never took off for me. But it was a win, because it made me realize that I don't connect with historical fiction if I like the real person it is about.

Nina de Gramont created the perfect blend of a mystery novel and historical fiction, presenting her take on the disappearance of Agatha Christie that had England aghast. I loved this novel and highly recommend it to those enjoying a dash of romance and intrigue with their mysteries.

I wanted to like this book. I like historical fiction, but this story just didn’t resonate with me. The story is told in first person by a woman, Nan O’Dea who is a friend to Agatha Christie while also sleeping with her husband. After hearing her husband is leaving her, Agatha flees and spends 11 days trying to find herself. I found the book confusing from the point of view to the changes in characters and Nan’s flashbacks. I also did not like the way they justified Nan’s behavior. While having her baby taken away from her was a tragedy; murdering people involved, hurting people (Finnegan) and stealing someone’s husband is not right either.

This book is less about Agatha Christie and more about Nan O’Dea, Agatha’s husband’s paramour. I imagine things were handled in a different way in the mid-1920s. I know I would not have reacted as Agatha did when finding out her husband was leaving her for another woman. In fact, I DIDN’T respond that way when my husband did the same thing! The author has done an excellent job of weaving a fictional tale surrounding Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

The premise of this was so intriguing and I was really excited to dive in - plus that cover!!! It is gorgeous!

Unfortunately I never became fully invested. This felt very slow and not very engaging. I had a hard time getting into the story and kept noticing I had read a few pages and my mind wandered so I didn't know what I just read and had to go back and repeat the process.

This wasn't a favorite for me.

A love story and a mystery, all tied up with an Agatha Christie bow? Yes, please. Garmont writes an intriguing historical fiction novel about the Christies and it's one you simply can't put down.

This one was too long. We focused on too many unimportant things that made this kind of a drag to read.

A beautifully written mystery given from a very unusual perspective. I highly recommend!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the pleasure of reading.

This was definitely not what I thought I was getting myself into once I started to read. I was hoping that since this book is the "Christie" affair, it might be more about Agatha Christie. Instead, the play on words in the title means we hear very little about Agatha herself and much more about her husband's mistress, Nan O'Dea, from whose perspective this story is told. I wasn't particularly interested in Nan's life, to be honest, and I was a little disappointed that there was so little about what actually happened during Agatha Christie's disappearance. But I suppose we'll never really know what happened during that time, so this fictional speculation is just that--another speculation. I will say I liked the mystery that was added in as a nod to Agatha Christie's writing. This book is certainly not bad, it's just not what I thought it was going to be and I think readers need to read the back cover before diving in.

The Christie Affair covers the 11 days in 1926 that Agatha Christie went missing. In an interesting turn, the story is told from the perspective of Archie Christie’s mistress. Agatha disappears after getting the news that her husband is leaving her for his paramour of two years.
Nan O’Dea isn’t real but is based on a real person. Nan narrates the story and as she even says, “you may well wonder if you can believe what I tell you about things that occurred when I myself was not present.” She gives us a plausible reason and the story does work with her as the narrator. We’re given both her background along with Agatha’s. To be honest, Agatha is more of a secondary character in this story. Do not go into this expecting Agatha to be front and center. If you do, I fear you will be disappointed.
The book encompasses a little bit of everything - a quest, a murder mystery, a romance. I was pleased by the two twists towards the end. And equally pleased by the imagined ending. De Gromant does a good job of giving the murder portion of the story the feel of an Agatha Christie novel. I enjoyed the characters as they all came across as real, despite the sometimes dreamlike state of the story. I applaud her ability to make Nan into a likable character, given that she is “the other woman”.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

Nan O’Dea already had a history when she met and had an affair with Archie Christie, husband of Agatha Christie.

The infidelity on Archie’s part caused his wife to disappear for 11 days with everyone thinking Agatha had killed herself.

The story of Agatha Christie's disappearance was very interesting, and I wasn’t aware this happened.

Agatha’s story was enjoyable. Nan’s story was not enjoyable at first but became better especially when secrets about her emerged. She wasn’t a nice person or should I say she was a calculating person.

As the story unfolds, we get to know Agatha through the author’s detailed, fluid writing style. We also learn about Nan and her plans.

There are a few twists and surprises, and overall THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR was good.

The way Ms. de Gramont wrapped up the book was clever.

Historical fiction fans and Agatha Christie fans will enjoy this book very much. It will also be enjoyable for those who didn’t know the facts about Agatha Christie's disappearance and her husband’s infidelity. I only knew her as a terrific author. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Agatha Christie would have been proud of this story. It has all the elements of a good mystery - characters who intrigue, likeable and not so likeable characters, settings, lots of red herrings for the reader to follow.

When Agatha Christie seemingly vanished into thin air in 1926 and was missing for 11 days, it was a media sensation. Reporters swarmed to the area where she had last been seen, police forces called in additional policemen and they worked around the clock to uncover her whereabouts. Her husband had to remember to play the grieving spouse, while feeling like he was getting off the hook and would be able to pursue his own life - after a suitable period of grieving, of course.

While the author has taken liberties with Agatha's husband's lover, turning her into Nan O'Dea, and creating quite a story around her as well as Agatha, it all comes together to make a cracking good mystery.

Does The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont refer to the actual affair Agatha Christie’s husband Archibald had with Nancy Neele, fictionalized as Nan O’Dea in the book, or does it refer to the 11-day disappearance of the crime novelist that she was never able to explain? Whichever, the book reimagines that famous vanishing from the point of view of the mistress.

Nancy/Nan wormed her way into the Christies’ lives by befriending both the wife and the husband, much like Pauline Pfeiffer did with Hadley and Ernest Hemingway...and in the same year, 1925. Both women became the mistress before being able to assert Mrs. before the famous last names. Agatha and Nancy met while working on a committee to design and organize a children's section of the 1925 British Empire Exhibition in Wembley.

The distress caused by Nancy/Nan’s luring away Agatha’s husband is thought to be the impetus for Agatha to disappear for 11 days, which was a mystery that fascinated readers of her work. Her husband was even a suspect in the possible murder of “the lady novelist,” who had not yet reached a high level of fame. On the other hand, Agatha spent little time on this episode of her life in her autobiography other than to call it a case of temporary amnesia.

While at times de Gramont seems to borrow from the movies and other stories about this time in Agatha’s life, the author takes the plot to where it has never gone before, hinted at in the opening line, “A long time ago in another country, I nearly killed a woman.” Not only is this work of historical fiction a look at what happened to Agatha during the time she seemed to have evaporated from her life, it is also a murder mystery with a subplot about poor pregnant unmarried girls in Ireland, what happened to their babies, and the thirst for revenge and resolution for these women.

Nina de Gramont is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The author of a collection of short stories, Of Cats and Men, she has written three adult novels as well as several YA novels under the pen name Marina Gessner. She lives in coastal North Carolina with her daughter and her husband, the Pushcart Prize-winning writer David Gessner.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 28, 2021.

I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

This novel was very well written and executed! Leading the reader in a completely opposite direction from what was expected, it was a great take on what might have happened. Two very strong, determined female characters make strides to achieve their life goals, but in very different ways. Great book!