Beautiful cover, Interesting storyline, but I can not get into this book. Thank you for the opportunity. If I do finish it someday, I will update my review.

This book had a good premise. What happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared for several years? I have always wondered. However, this take was rather boring. I found it hard to keep reading. I picked this one up on a whim because it sounded like mystery but this book would be a historical fiction. It just was not for me. It was too slow and I did not know if I liked this authors fictionalized version of events.

I actually started out by reading The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, but it was moving so slowly for me that way that I knew I had to switch to the audiobook. After waiting a bit for that, I finally got it and man did that make all of the difference. This can be a confusing story, especially on audio, since it can be hard to tell who is speaking due to the writing style/format of the book. However, since I started by reading it that seemed to really give me an advantage and after I knew the flow, I was able to easily follow along. I would recommend that if you were going to go the audiobook route to maybe start with the book, or at least have a copy handy until you feel comfortable with it. I ended up loving this on audio and the narrator Lucy Scott did a lovely job. I didn't think she did anything special to differentiate the viewpoints, but she was nice to listen to and did a great job overall.

It was really interesting reading the story of Agatha Christie’s disappearance from the POV of Archie's mistress, and in reality, this book is really more about Nan and how she affects Agatha's marriage than it is about Agatha herself. Nan's backstory broke my heart and made me really feel for her character as much as I know what she was doing with Archie was wrong. I loved the way de Gramont wove the different timelines as well as creating an epilogue of sorts set in 1928. Minus the slight confusion of who was speaking when at first, I did love the way she wrote this story, and it feels like Nan is talking right to the reader. There are a couple of surprises in The Christie Affair so I won't say anything else, but I would say if you love Christie and are interested in her disappearance at all, I would definitely recommend reading this.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In 1926, author Agatha Christie had become well-known for her mystery novels. On a December night, she disappeared for 11 days and was the subject of an unprecedented manhunt. When she was recognized in a hotel, registered under an assumed name, she claimed to have no memory of how she'd arrived there or what had happened to her. This is a fictional account of the unsolved mystery - with the emphasis on the "fictional" part. And the publisher's information is upfront about this, pointing out that Nina de Gramont has "reimagined" what happened.
The story is told by Christie's husband's mistress, whom he later married after divorcing Agatha. And while it's partially about what may have happened to trigger the disappearance and how and what happened to Agatha Christie during those 11 days, it's more about the mistress. Why did she target Archie Christie to take on as a lover in the first place? Ultimately it's her story, and it's a tragic one. It's an enjoyable read - there are definitely more mysteries at play than just Agatha Christie's disappearance, and yes, there are murders as well. The real-life mystery isn't solved here, but the fictional story is an interesting one, and is also based on a different historical story from the time period.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a digital copy for an unbiased review.

I love a good historical fiction book, and this one did not disappoint!

I love the plot of this book and how it very loosely follows the events that led up to the 11 day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926, after her husband told her he was leaving her for another woman.

The story is told through the eyes and perspective of the mistress, and it is very interesting.

Overall, I did enjoy this one and would recommend it to others to read.

I found this to be an intriguing novel that revolves around Agatha Christie. It was an imagination of her life and why she disappeared for awhile. There is another woman in the story who became close to Agatha’s husband. The stories of both women are weaved together and revealed throughout the book.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Nina de Gramont for free e-ARC of The Christie Affair in return of my honest review.

Once Agatha Christie has disappeared for eleven days, and Nina de Gramont presents her version of events that preceded the disappearance, provides some explanations for the mystery and shows her talent in spinning the story of Agatha Christie’s own mystery.

I love Agatha Christie and her work, and I was looking forward to read this one. I have mixed feelings about the book - I kind of liked how the story went, how the author panted Agatha and other characters, I liked that the narrator was not Agatha herself. However, I couldn’t brush my feelings for Miss Nan O’Dea, the narrator, the third woman. I didn’t like her and her character, possibly because she was intervening in a marriage, therefore her story and her explanations were lost for me.

Overall, it was an enjoyable book and U glad I had a chance to read it.

I wasn’t overly familiar with Agatha Christie or her novels before, but you better believe I’m going to brush up now! The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont was a really enjoyable read filled with nods to the master herself. What chronicles the disappearance of Agatha Christie, reveals even more mysteries, in true AC fashion. The novel really picked up speed at the end and drew the reader in with playful acknowledgements of the audience. If pens and poison are your thing as well as some intertextuality, I highly recommend this speedy escape.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and the author for the e-arc. I’m behind in reviews, so you can find this wherever you love to buy books now!

The greatest mystery wasn't Agatha Christie's disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it's what she discovered." 🧐💍📚

This book was excellent. While it was a bit of a slow burn, I found myself hooked and wanting to read more! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

DNF at around 10%. I thought the premise and idea was really interesting but I really did not enjoy this being told from the mistress's perspective. Maybe due to this perspective choice, Christie is displayed as an overblown, hysterical woman, which doesn't really jive with what I think, or want to think of her. I could have kept reading if I really wanted to, but it seemed like this book chose to really play up the soapy drama and relationship intrigue, which is really not what I was interested in.

4.5 stars

This was such an interesting take on Agatha Christie’s 11 day disappearance. Nina de Gramont imagined a story full of the intrigue and mystery that Christie wrote into her novels.

There were multiple twists and turns that I didn’t see coming but made perfect sense one they were revealed.

I also loved the addition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers as minor characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for a digital and physical ARC in exchange for my honest review.

While I’ve only read a few read of Agatha Christie’s books, I was intrigued by the premise of this one as it’s a fictional reimagining of sorts, based on her real life.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad read. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. I liked ‘the other woman’ angle, but I think it would have been better had it been told in alternating POV’s between Nan & Agatha instead. This was solely told in Nan’s POV and was mainly about her, which I found disappointing. I wanted more Agatha.

Since I'm not an Agatha Christie reader, I came into this book not realizing it was based on one historical event in Agatha Christie's life - that of her missing for 11 days.

The book's narrator is Nan, the new wife of AC's ex-husband. For probably half of the novel, Nan was retelling the imagined events that happened with Agatha Christie across the 11 days Christie went missing. Interspersed between Day 1 or Day 2, etc., we learn more about Nan and her backstory, which takes up about half of the book. Nan weaves in stories of her childhood, the Great War, and what happened to children sent to convents.

The novel sparked my interest in wanting to read Agatha Christie's books, and the twists and plots across the 11 days were supposedly resolved. However, the author's attempt at narrating was distracting, and the story was simply a mess. She'll speak directly to the reader, saying she knows this is what happened to Christie, while at other times, she'll make up as she goes along saying that she was over here, and Christie was over there... as if she could be in two places at the same time. How do you have a character in the novel be an omniscient narrator? That didn't make sense. The technique was distracting, adding unnecessary word count, plot holes and disorienting the timeline. And, of course, it wasn't just about Christie's missing. There was a murder mystery, introduced 100 pages in, and took another 100+ pages to be revisited because we've been reading about Nan or Christie's missing.

If the author is trying to be the next Agatha Christie, she'd have much editing to do. I wanted to give up reading the book after 200 pages. The book moved along a bit only when the murder mystery was revisited, which led me to press on to the finish.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for my advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review.

“The Christie Affair” by @ninadegramont is a fantastic story with brilliant writing. I was really captivated by the story from start to finish. If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, mysteries, dark and tragic love stories, and quality writing, I think you’ll like this one.

Pros: I loved how the author made the reader fall with love with Nan in her childhood. She brought Nan to life, and I couldn’t help but find myself cheering for Nan and Finbarr. I also thought Nina did an excellent job carrying the reader along through the story from Nan’s POV, jumping to present day and then back to the past.

Cons: I also found myself really disappointed with Nan breaking up Agatha’s marriage, and I could have done without the many bedroom scenes (albeit the author didn’t elaborate, but insinuated). There’s also a tragic scene of unwed mothers in an Irish convent. An important part of the story, but had me 🤢😭 each time Nan jumped back to her past at the convent.

Thank you to @netgalley for allowing me to read this great @reesesbookclub pick!

Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days and it was never explained. In the story Archie Christie is having an affair with Nan and plans to leave Agatha to marry. Agatha knows that Nan is not in love with her husband so what is the motive. The author tells the story from Nan's point of view which I felt was kind of ambitious. She recalls her back story and how she came to this point but there were a lot of characters and, of course, there were things that happened that Nan wasn't there to see. That's where I got confused sometimes. There was a murder mystery in the middle and I had an idea of what motivated Nan as far as Archie was concerned but even that seemed far fetched. At times it seemed plodding and I really did not like Nan much. I felt bad for what Agatha went through but I don't know that it was enough for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I found the plot to be very unique and interesting. The story kept my attention, even when it started to drag in a few places. Overall, the book was a good read and I enjoyed the dual timelines.

I’ve read several books and haven’t written a review for at least a month. I think it had to do with finding the highly rated Lucy Foley title not
great..best part was actually having a hard bound book in hand for once and remembering how paper and print come together. I found the
Christie Affair which I coincidentally read right after The Magnolia Palace to be well written and had all the elements of storytelling and character development plus an ending that was thoughtful and not abrupt. I am liking the story made around real life characters quite well…
nothing I would read in the past and I might have said both these books with the alternating back stories to be a ploy I didn’t like. I still prefer
linear stories yet both these books were so enjoyable as they progressed that I actually felt sad to finish both titles.

Good story!

Description
Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?

"Sizzles from its first sentence." - The Wall Street Journal
A Reese's Book Club Pick

In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie. In every way, she became a part of their life––first, both Christies. Then, just Archie. Soon, Nan became Archie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted wife, desperate to marry him. Nan’s plot didn’t begin the day she met Archie and Agatha.

After reading The Mystery of Mrs. Christie last year and loving it, my interest was piqued by the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie and why/where she'd gone during that time. After all, she's the greatest mystery writer of all time, and it's been a great mystery that she never told anyone what really happened during that time. When I saw Nina de Gramont had written a book about the disappearance, I wanted to read it. This book is well-written, but I still had to make myself read it. I didn't want to read about Nan O'Dea, Agatha's mistress, or hear her tell what had supposedly happened to Agatha (it seemed so implausible). And I had no interest in Nan's backstory at all--I didn't care about what happened to her in Ireland or during WWI even if it was terrible because this was supposed to be a story about Agatha, not Nan even if the author did entwine the two. There's definitely enough source material to write a complete novel about Agatha's disappearance as it's been done before, but maybe I was just expecting too much or maybe I read this one too soon after reading The Mystery of Mrs. Christie. I'm definitely in the minority with my opinion, so please make sure to take my review with a grain of salt.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

-Review posted to Goodreads on 3/29/22

Agatha Christie's books were some of the earliest mysteries I read. This is re-imagined version of the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie. No one has ever really known for sure what happened, but there is plenty of speculation in this novel filled with an affair, the heartbreak of a child and of course, murder. Mystery lovers will enjoy it.