It was fascinating to witness how much Agatha's life shows up in her fictional works and from whence she drew her inspiration.Īgatha Christie was 75-years old when she wrote (via dictation) this autobiography of her life. However, as this autobiography illustrates, Agatha's works, whether fictional or otherwise, are highly entertaining and bear witness to her gift for depicting vivid characters. Agatha came to know a lot about archaeology and helped to clean sand from fragile artifacts using her face cream.Agatha always had trouble thinking of herself as an author. During World War I, she married Archie Christie, who left her for another woman shortly after her mother died.Agatha began traveling, alone, and met the man who would become her second husband when he was working on an archeological expedition.
#Autobiography of agatha christie free#
Because she did not attend school, she had time to give free reign to her gifted imagination.Agatha lived through two world wars and worked as a volunteer dispenser of medical drugs to help with the war effort during both wars. She learned other subjects in other equally unconventional ways. Her mother hired an untrained French girl to play with her daughter, so that Agatha could learn French. Agatha did not, for example, attend school or have a governess. The philosophies and reflections Agatha shares along the way are refreshing and insightful.Agatha's childhood, growing up in the Victorian era, was so different from what one would expect today (if one can ever talk about a "typical" childhood) that one cannot help but be struck by the comparison. This chronological journey through Agatha Christie's life was one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. She would have been quite a person to have known. Her humble modesty is quite disarming.Īgatha Christie had an interesting and intriguing life, which is what keep me reading this rambling account. Towards the end she discusses her novels and the writing in more detail, especially when she started to write plays, and it was interesting to think that she didn't consider herself as talented as such or that she had a gift.
(very much a product of her class and era). She also did this later in the book as she also used French when in the Middle East and I found it disappointing that the publisher didn't endeavour to provide a translation of them as you miss some bits of pieces - or that it didn't occur to her that a reader would not know French. There are references to conversations and events written in French (as that was what they were spoken), which are not translated, as Agatha Christie lived in France for a time in her childhood so she could learn it fluently, and had a French companion/nanny as well. In fact her writing doesn't really get a mention until after the first 200 pages, after a rambling account of her childhood and the different places she stayed and things she did. She considered herself a 'married woman' first and foremost, which was very much a product of her era - being born in 1890.
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She didn't consider herself an author, she considered it just a sort of past-time which happened to make her money. Her writing career is very much in the background of this autobiography, as she treated it so in her life. I had to keep reminding myself that she finished it in 1965, as there were many references to things that made me think: 'if only she knew how things were now'. It was less about her writing career and more about all the other interesting things she has done: served as a dispensing chemist during the first world war travelled extensively in the Middle East.Īgatha writes it in 1st person, and very much her own style.
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I am finally finished! This is a long read, a rambling look back over Agatha Christie's life.