When Agatha Christie was asked where she was when she disappeared in late 1926, she said “I don’t remember”. Throughout the rest of her life she never addressed the episode again and, to this day, it has remained a mystery. Many have speculated and written about it, and Nina de Gramont is the latest author to use this event as the focus of her novel, The Christie Affair.

Now, I must say, this was a surprising read and not at all what I expected. My opinion of the book vacillated more than once as I read the fictionalized story of Agatha Christie’s famous eleven-day disappearance. At first it was simply interesting and entertaining, and then it took off like the proverbial rocket.

The story presents twists and unexpected revelations that I didn’t see coming. The author has used backstories and the perspectives of Nan, the mistress of Agatha’s husband, to weave a tale of deception and conflict. Nan’s personal story is enthralling as well as heartbreaking. Agatha’s personality is well-defined and the descriptions of her are not at all what I expected. Finally, the settings are so well-constructed and described that it’s easy to imagine the lifestyle that the various characters enjoyed or endured.

The Christie Affair is a debut novel that is well-written, clever, thoughtful, and simply and absolutely entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I will definitely look forward for more books from this new and talented author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

I requested this book from NetGalley based solely on the cover. I may have had some vague idea it had something to do with Agatha Christie. All that being said, I hang my head and admit I've never read an Agatha Christie book. Along with that I knew nothing about the lady herself.

I love fiction that is based on true events. When an author can make me interested in a topic or person who I previously had very little knowledge about, for me, it makes them an even better author. As I read this book I found myself Googling Agatha Christie and she did disappear for a short time just before her divorce from her husband Archie. Archie did go on to marry his mistress. The explanation for her disappearance was not much more than the "I don't remember" of this book.

This book took these events and weaved them into a wonderful story of imagination. Told from mostly the mistress's viewpoint, Nan O'Day, with other points of view thrown in, including Agatha's. There are also flashbacks to Nan's early days and first love, Finbar who served in WWI then had a near death bout of the flu. I admit that the sections titled "Here lies Sister Mary" threw me for a bit, but patience is a virtue and all is explained and tied back in with a bow on top.

Now, I will go read some Agatha Christie book, if there was ever a time, it is now.

I feel like this book took me forever to read, and I'm not really sure why. I felt like Nanwas an unreliable narrator, and that the POV changed a lot and often times without warning. The story was intriguing though. I e always loved stories about what happened during those 11 infamous days Agatha Christie went missing, and Nans heartbreaking story just added to the mystery and drama of the book. I loved the way the author overlapped the stories and ended the book making you wonder how honest the narrator really was.

Overall, it wasn't a bad story, but it also wasn't my favorite. I gave it three stars be ause there were elements that I really enjoyed but also some that made it a slower, more difficult read. I did love how de Gramont wrote Agatha's story in a very Agatha way. The home feel of it was so similar to Agatha Christie's own writing that it could have been her own.
Thank you #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the ACR copy.

Anyone who reads Agatha Christie, or even those who don't, probably know about how she mysteriously disappeared for 11 days in 1926, when her husband was on the verge of leaving her for his mistress, and she famously never gave any explanation of where she was during the time of her absence. The Christie Affair is a fictional account of what happened during that time, as told by the woman who was behind the marriage breakup.

You must know going into the book that Agatha Christie is not the main character. The mistress, who here is called Nan O'Dea is our narrator and it's her story to tell. It was an inventive tale and the author did a believable job of spinning a pretty far fetched reason why Nan became Archie's mistress.

Agatha is portrayed mostly sympathetically, except for her total disengagement from her child during this period. However she is given her own story plot which helps her get over the indignity of being left by her husband. In the midst of the disappearance story line there is a double murder which is being investigated. The solution to "who dun it" has a very Hercule Periot type twist which I found very clever. Really my only complaint with this book was there were a couple of areas in the retelling of Nan's story where the plot dragged. Overall, though I found the writing kept me totally engaged, and I applaud the author for her very inventive plot, but still making me buy into it!

I would rate this a 4.5, but since that is not possible, I am rounding up to 5 because I think it is a great effort! Thank you to author Nina de Gramont, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I thought this would be more about the famous Christie disappearance than the life of the mistress that helped cause it. So, while different than what I thought, not necessarily bad. Peripherally, the disappearance is covered, the book's heroine is really Nan O'Dea, mistress of Archie. The story goes into her past, some quite sad with several twists and turns. I was struck at how the author drew so many similarities between Agatha and Nan.

The Christie Affair is set in 1925. The author, Nina de Gramont does such a spectacular job of portraying that period of time. She really gets inside the characters heads and I felt that I really related to both of them. Agatha is none other than a fictional version of the real-life Agatha Christie. Nan, is a young woman who has wiggled her way into the very middle of Agatha's marriage with Archie and is actively working to tear them apart.

The only problem? Agatha still loves Archie despite his cheating. And while Nan is cunning, so is Agatha. The Christie Affair is the tale of how both women try to outwit the other and learn that ultimately there are things in life that are worth every sacrifice.

This one comes with so much praise! It's a Reese's Book Club Pick, a New York Times Bestseller and has rave reviews from the Wall Street Journal, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly. As a book publicist myself, this book is a publisher's dream.

I found the story very compelling, but for me, it ebbed and flowed a bit. I'd hit a super interesting part and couldn't put it down, then I'd have trouble getting though a couple pages. I didn't rate it quite as high as many others, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I haven't read Agatha Christie and wasn't aware of her disappearance. I think if you had a special interest, this book would knock your socks off.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book to be slow and boring. The plot was all over the places. I was thrown off by Nan knowing all of the other characters motivations and feelings. There was a lot of fluff written but nothing much moving the plot along.

When The Christie Affair first popped up on Netgalley, I was so intrigued! I had never heard that Agatha Christie disappeared for nine days and never told anyone where she went. But once I’d heard…I needed an answer, however fictional!

The story is told from the perspective of Nan O’Dea, who happens to be having an affair with Agatha Christie’s husband. The story unfolds in a dreamy timeline, starting before The Disappearance and mostly moving towards Agatha’s reappearance. There are a few detours along the way, including Nan’s backstory.

Something I loved about this book was Nan and Agatha’s relationship. While they were rivals, there was none of the nasty language and villanizing you see with most stories that have women set up as romantic rivals. They were both fully dimensional characters, and viewed each other as such.

Read this book if you like:
✨ mystery
✨ historical fiction
✨ love stories
✨the book “Before We Were Yours” - similar vibe, different aesthetic.

Unfortunately, I didn't like this. I was hoping for more Christie than what we got. I didn't realize this would be more about the mistress and I didn't like her. I slogged through this because I didn't care about her or her life. I wanted more of the Christie disappearance but this wasn't it. I wouldn't recommend this to any Christie fan.

Excellent read, gives a great fictional take on a real time and person. Will be purchasing for library.

Two stories going on in this book - a murder and a disappearance. You will learn a lot on the life of Nan, Archie Christie’s mistress, and more history on Agatha Christie and why and where she disappeared to. A good book club selection.

While there have been many books, fiction and non-fiction, that have tackled Agatha Christie's eleven day disappearance, this novel's spin on it is one full of twists and turns and clever creativity.

Nan O'Dea is our narrator through much of the story, and is Christie's husband Archie's mistress. Agatha is devastated by the knowledge that the affair is a serious one, and Archie fears that it was his actions that sent Agatha spiraling into drastic action.

But there is more going on than meets the eye, and de Gramont delivers every surprise with aplomb. While Agatha Christie is my favorite author, I honestly saw none of the twists coming. This is not only a fresh take on a famous unsolved mystery, but one that is so well-thought out and so well-written that I could not put it down.

I know a book is going to be good when it begins like this:

“A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. 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.”

Part mystery, part biographical fiction, The Christie Affair is a clever, mesmerizing read written by a talented novelist. Nina de Gramont brilliantly weaves together two storylines, that of Agatha Christie, and the backstory of her husband’s mistress, Nan O’Dea. I read the book and listened to the audiobook. Both were splendid. 4.5 stars.

Synopsis:

The Christie Affair is a reimagining of one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. At 9:30 pm on December 3, 1926, English crime novelist Agatha Christie kissed her sleeping seven-year-old daughter, Rosalind, goodnight and then she climbed into her car and drove off into the night. She would not be seen again for 11 days. More than a thousand police officers, hundreds of civilians, and even airplanes searched for her. Rumors circulated that she had either committed suicide, been murdered by her philandering husband, or disappeared as a publicity stunt to promote her new book. Christie never spoke about the missing eleven days of her life

Published Date: February 1, 2022
Genre: Biographical fiction, historical fiction, historical mystery
Read-alikes: The Seven Husbands or Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline, Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict.

I had a hard time getting into the story and have abandoned it for now. There have been many positive reviews and the premise is great, so I’m chalking it up to not being the right book for me at this exact time.

Prior to this book I knew nothing about the disappearance of Agatha Christie. And I found this version of the story quite fascinating. I’ll admit at the beginning I thought the story was moving slow, but stick with it. Parts 2 & 3 read super fast and is where the story gets really interesting. Also in the beginning I wasn’t too fond of the story being told from Nan’s (the mistress) perspective. Yet by the end of the book it makes perfect sense and was quite brilliant by the author to structure the book this way. Whether this is what truly happened or not, it’s a fascinating story and one you should read. And makes me want to read some Agatha Christie novels!!

My thanks to the author, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Christie Affair, somewhat misleadingly titled, follows a girl called Nan who's having an affair with Agatha Christie's husband. It takes place during the infamous eleven days of Agatha's disappearance, imagining a tale of what might have happened during the time the author always asserted she could not remember.

I was so excited for this book. Agatha's disappearance is my favorite mystery of all time, but unfortunately, that aspect fell flat. On the positive side, Nan's story had a lot of potential. Her trauma was a real trauma experienced by countless women, and I applaud the author for tackling it. The entire plot surrounding her history was interesting and would have made a fantastic novel if given center stage and flushed out a bit more.

The historical inaccuracies were so glaring, it was hard to enjoy as massive Christie fan. Maybe this would be enjoyable to someone who knows little about her and her life who could look past that. Spoiler ahead, but the very insinuation that Agatha Christie's daughter would have been from a stolen adoption is offensive, especially considering the way she grew up with a mother who dealt with lifelong adoption trauma. And to title the book after Agatha's own name, when the book truly followed her husband's mistress (who in real life never married into the Christie name) just felt in poor taste. It's fine to take liberties when fictionalizing a historical figure, but this felt like it was done in a disrespectful way, and overall it only harmed the story by taking away from the truly interesting part of the plot. The believability in Agatha's involvement was disappointingly not there.

This I was my first book by Nine de Gramont and I really enjoyed it!!! The heartbreak, romance, and revenge makes this book such a thriller!!! I look forward to reading more books by this author!!! Read and enjoy!!!

Wow. This was an intriguing tale. I of course know of Agatha Christie, but I was unaware of the storyline regarding her disappearance.

Nan’s story is tough. Very tough. Watching the flashbacks to her story makes sense why she has become who she’s become.

Chilton’s search for her- I was literally turning page after page!

Archie Christie- UGH, he frustrated me so much.

So many literary cameos: Sir Authur Conan Doyle amongst others.

Absolutely phenomenal!

I had heard of this real life mystery before so reading about it in this novel was fascinating.

I loved the intertwined stories and the time intermixing. I thought this was really well thought out and because of that it was enthralling. I wanted to know desperately where Agatha went and I also begrudgingly felt for Nan and her plight.

I would recommend this for anyone who loves historical fiction, mystery (not thriller) and fans of the mystery queen herself Agatha Christie.

Come see what the Christie Affair is all about!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to check this one out!

I have reviewed the audio book., which I enjoyed immensely. Thank you for the review copy. Extra characters to take up space.