This was the book that kept me sane while I was having some health issues that sent me to an Emergency Room.
As I had to wait I started reading it was amazing as it helped to keep my mind from the issues and the bleak environment.
It's a riveting and well researched story, the characters are fleshed out and realistic, the historical background vivid.
There's secrets, murders, betrayal: I read it as fast as I could and loved it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Fantastic book! I've read several books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Agatha Christie's famous disappearance, and this is definitely the best. I really enjoyed the story being told from different viewpoints and how these initially separate storylines began to interlink and relate to each other. Would definitely recommend it.

I found this a superbly interesting read as a huge fan or Mrs Christie and her murder mystery novels. I loved how there were aspects of the truth woven into the storytelling of this book which was enough to make the whole story credible.

Mrs Christie's disappearance has been well documented and to this day remains a mystery. This book presents a version of her disappearance but also that of the mistress, Nan O'Dea's disappearance too.

Nan's backstory, unravelled throughout the novel, is tragic and I thought that the author Nina de Gramont dealt sensitively with the issues surrounding unmarried women in Ireland at this time. It certainly helps the reader become sympathetic to the mistress and her desire to become Archie Christie's wife.

I also enjoyed the inclusion of a mini murder mystery too! The conclusion of this felt very satisfying!

Overall, a good book with a compelling story, an interesting take on Christie's disappearance but definitely one to be enjoyed as a work of fiction not fact.

**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **

The Christie Affair by Nina De Gramont was not a natural choice of book for me. I have never read any Agatha Christie, I simply enjoy books about the lives of authors. Also, even I had heard of Agatha Christie's famous disappearance.

The Christie Affair is written from the point of view of her husband's mistress Nan O'Dea, a charcter you would presume to dislike but actuallly for the purposes of the book I found myself quite fond of her. The use of her to tell the story is genius and her own story is as important as Christie's and as absorbing.

"Agatha Christie had a fascination with murder. But she was a tender-hearted person. She never wanted to kill anyone. Not for a moment. Not even me."

I would recommend this book for fans of the author, but it also works for people like me who previously knew next to nothing about her. I felt by the end of the book like I knew a little more about the author's character.

"Agatha was upper crust and elegent, but perfectly willing to dispense with manners and social mores."

I can't discuss the book without discussing Christie's husband, Archie. Archie is what can only be described as a cad, but without the charm that word can sometimes imply.

"I've sometimes thought Agatha invented Hercule Poirot as an antidote to Archie. There was never an emotional cue Poirot missed, nor any wayward emotions for which he didn't feel sympathy. Poirot could absorb and assess a person's sadness; then forgive it. Whereas Archie simply wanted to cheer up and have the order followed."

I liked that the story focused on Agatha but also on Nan herself and that Archie was a background to the story rather than at the forefront.

The author's style of writing is fresh, richly detailed and spiky.

"The age of disappearing women did not begin with Agatha Christie. It had begun long before Christie hopped into a car and motored away from Newlands Corner...And it would continue for quite a bit longer. We disappeared form schools, from our hometowns. From our families and our jobs. One day we would be going about our business, sitting in class, or laughing with friends, or walking hand in hand with a beau. Then, poof.

What ever happened to that girl? Don't you remember her? Where did she go? ...The age of the disappearing women. It had been going on forever. Thousands of us vanished, with not a single police officer searching. Not a word from the newspapers. Only our long absences and quiet returns. If we ever returned at all."

The ending of the book is one of my favourite ending's I have read.

"No need to question or go forward, past this moment. Indulge yourself instead and close this book on a happy ending."

I am a huge Agatha Christie fan and was so excited to receive an ARC of this book. I loved the concept of this book and was instantly drawn in to the story. A must read for any Christie fans.

When I first saw the synopsis for this book I couldn’t wait to be able to start reading. I’ve read quite a few Agatha Christie books but unlike many of her fans I only know that she disappeared for a spell in the mid 1920s. Whilst Agatha’s disappearance is the catalyst for the story it’s by no means the main subject of this book.

There’s love, loss, revenge and even a murder to be solved and the author does a brilliant job of weaving together all of the different strands of the story. It’s a clever book, and one which leaves you guessing to the end about which way it will twist and turn.

A great book for fans of Christie, and one that I’d also recommend to fans of period fiction. An enjoyable read for the new year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared?
This is a story about what may have happened.
Unfortunately it wasn't really for me. The storyline didn't grab my imagination.

In December 1926 Agatha Christie disappeared. Her car was found abandoned quite close to her home, but of Agatha there was no trace. A nationwide search followed with hundreds of police and civilians involved but still there were no signs, till eleven days later she was recognised in a Harrogate hotel. Agatha claimed to not remember anything of the intervening time, and the mystery of her disappearance has intrigued her readers ever since.
Nina de Gramont takes these basic known facts, mixes in some imaginative fiction, and weaves a compelling story around them. Events unfold mainly from the point of view of Archie Christie's mistress, Nan O'Dea, with her fictional backstory of first love and loss taking centre stage, and Agatha's disappearance merely forming the backdrop. It wouldn't be a Christie homage without a murder or two - and a hotel in Harrogate forms the backdrop for a couple of suspicious deaths, treated in typical Christie 'cosy crime' manner.

Overall it's an enjoyable read, but just a little disappointing in not holding to the few known facts about Agatha Christie's time in Harrogate. Approach it as pure fiction, and it's a much more satisfying story.

❓ The book is focused on the 11 days during which Agatha Christie went missing in 1926. It had been a difficult period for her, with her mother's death and her husband Archie leaving her for another woman. The narrator is a fictionalised version of Archie's mistress: Nan O'Dea. Despite their differences, the two women become allies and work together to unravel a secret that only Nan holds the key to.⁠
⁠
❤️ I liked:⁠
📑 The story. It's not a secret that I love Agatha Christie, and I read quite a few books focused on her disappearance. When I saw this book, I jumped at the chance of reading another version of what happened during those 11 days, and I was not disappointed.⁠
✍️ The writing. The book is easy to read, especially towards the end. The descriptions are well written, and the characters are very well crafted.⁠
👧 Nan's backstory. I live in Ireland, and I enjoyed reading about Nan, how she went on holiday in Ireland as a young girl, and how she fell in love with the Irish countryside. ⁠
⁠
🤔 I wasn't sure about:⁠
Nan is the main character. Nan is the only narrator, and she appears to be the real focus of the story. At times Agatha Christie seemed to be just an afterthought. I guess I would have probably enjoyed it more without the connection to Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days and there have been many theories of where she went and what she did. This books tells the story from the point of view of Agatha Christie’s husband’s mistress. It is a story of affairs, mistresses, detectives, murders and love.

It was a bit slow in places but I did enjoy it.

There are many things I could say about this book, and most of them are highly complementary. It is written beautifully, in a captivating manner that makes you pass away the hours without even noticing you have done so. It's one of those books that will steal your time and you will thank you for it.

However, I did have to stop reading at a certain point when it took a different direction than I was expecting, and touched on several triggers of my own. I wish the author all the best, and look forward to her future work.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan Mantle for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Christie Affair’ by Nina de Gramont in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this novel but found myself disappointed on a number of counts. It’s one of those books that has received a lot of prepublication buzz and is presented as a fictionalised account of Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in 1926; from the perspective of her husband’s mistress.

The author has created a fictional counterpart to the real second Mrs. Christie and so Nancy Neele becomes Nan O’Dea, a young woman who survived a tough London upbringing during the Great War and then goes on to experience further hardship in Ireland before settling her cap at Col. Archibald Christie for reasons that become clear as the narrative progresses.

Throughout the novel, I never warmed to Nan and was especially uncomfortable with the backstory of star-crossed lovers, mistreatment of unmarried mothers in Ireland, and Nan’s motive for breaking up the Christie marriage. Indeed, throughout Nan appeared to be the main focus of the novel with Agatha Christie becoming almost a supporting character.

While I don’t want to head into spoiler territory, I felt that the story was all over the place. Aside from the relationship drama there’s a murder mystery at the hotel where Agatha and Nan are inextricably both staying and a romance that I found unconvincing. The jumping about in time and Nan’s seeming ability to fill the reader in on details where she wasn’t present were distracting and effected the pacing.

I feel that the author could have created a fictional 1920s mystery writer, who goes missing, ‘inspired’ by the Christie incident and explored Nan’s tragic story in Ireland and the like to her heart’s content. Still, cynical me says that the Christie name will be a big draw.

Ultimately Agatha Christie chose to draw a veil over her 11-day disappearance as well as elements of her failed first marriage. However, it appears that both she and Archie made better choices in their second marriages. I rather hoped that the Author might set the record straight in her Acknowledgments or add a Historical Note. Yet I was disappointed.

Yes, it was readable and I expect that many won’t be as bothered as I was by these representations of Nancy Neele Christie and Rosalind Christie, Agatha and Archie’s daughter, who the author had replaced with the fictional Teddy. While I am certain that it wasn’t the author’s intention, so many aspects of the novel felt disrespectful to Agatha Christie and her family and it just didn’t sit well with me.

Overall, ‘The Christie Affair’ just didn’t work for me.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

A very interesting concept of a novel. Most people know about Agatha Christie’s disappearance for 11 days when she was eventually found in Harrogate but no one knows what happened during that time. Such a great idea for a book to create a story around those missing days. A lot of genuine facts interspersed with great fiction covering events of the time - young men going to war, unmarried mothers, child adoption, adultery.

A great read told from the point of two different women but also very similar in what they want.

Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and this one proved utterly engrossing. I found it really interesting that the book is predominately told from the perspective of Archie Christie's mistress as Agatha Christie goes missing for 11 days. There is also some back story for Nan O'Dea which adds to the book.

True crime aficionados have for years wondered about the great mystery in the life of one the most celebrated mystery writers of our times, Dame Agatha Christie. What did happen to her for 11 days in 1926, it is a question that has long haunted all her fans and still continues to be a mystery that has never provided sufficient answers.

Based on this true account, Nina de Gramont reimagines the set of incidents that lead up to the disappearance of Agatha Christie and WOW, what an exciting set of circumstances the author lays forward explaining the reason for her silence and getting the readers to sympathize with its narrator Nan O’Dea, the mistress who walked into the Christie’s lives and purposefully wrecked it.

The author has woven an intricate tale of grief and pain during the years of war very clearly portraying the misery of young unmarried females forced to abandon their babies irrespective of their wishes and dreams. The story unfurls thru Nan and her past in Ireland and then draws us to the events that happen before the day of missing and the days following that. Nina de Gramond’s writing takes the reader on an emotional journey seeing the agony endured by Nan thus making us feel pity for her and her determined focus in destroying another woman’s life. However it was not Nan, but Finbarr whose undying love that brought a lump to my throat.

I did love the main plot exploring the reasons that could have developed in the life of my favorite author but it was the murder mystery woven thru it that held my attention thoroughly. Yes, it was interesting to see the plot devices used by Christie like a hotel, a set of guests, a man dying in the middle of having dinner, it was glorious to return to that Christie set up. This story thou, I believe would have worked equally well without the need for mixing up the real events of Agatha Christie’s disappearance. I have read many books where facts are blended with fiction but I felt this would have been better as out an out fiction without the unnecessary need for the sensational subject matter. Another point that I was irked with was how Nan imagines the scenes that would have played out between Agatha and various other characters. Not sure why the author chose to do that, but it was irritating as if they are not happening in the real but are whimsical and imaginary thoughts of Nan’s mind or probabaly these words say it all,

“ Beyond the confines of these pages, life will go tumbling forward. But this is my story. I can make anything happen, not beholden to a future that has by now become the past. I can leave you with a single image, and we can pretend it lasts forever.”

The echo of this story is gonna reverberate in my mind for a long time to come, just because it gives a version of the story that heretofore have never been imagined.

Compelling 3.5 stars.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Pan Macmillan, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India, Book Bub, Medium.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

Such a clever idea for a book. Take a ready made mystery and turn it into a novel. Most of us have heard about the famous author, Agatha Christie who, in 1926, went missing for 11 days. It is a mystery that has not been solved to this day. This book is about what might have happened during those 11 day but so much more. It is a story of lovers torn apart by war, stolen children, abuse, adultery, unrequited love, murder and what a woman will sacrifice for her child. In a way there might have been too much going on, but in my opinion Nina de Gramont made it work and turned it into a real page turner. There are some heart breaking moments but also some heart lifting moments and all in all it is an enthralling read and well worth five stars.

In December 1926, English novelist Agatha Christie left her life of glamourous society and early literary fame and vanished for eleven days. She'd just had her suspicions confirmed about her husband Archie's infidelities and learnt his intentions to leave her. It is believed that no one knows what happened to her, including Agatha herself, but there's someone who knows everything: her husband's mistress.

Nan O'Dea has had her life destroyed by The Great War but she's spent the last few years enacting a plan to get back what she lost. As the two women's lives collide, the two will learn that you can't tell your own story without revealing someone else's.

This book is beautiful and I would happily end it there.

But that doesn't do the complexities of this achingly profound story justice. I found this to be an Agatha Christie novel featuring Agatha Christie but if it were written by Daphne du Maurier (as it has a Rebecca tone to it). It easily combines the various plot threads throughout, for there are several, but balances this with well-placed reminders of previous revelations, conversations or events. There is the mystery side of the story but it's countered by the depth of the character studies undertaken; whilst it does have shocking twists, they feel quiet and respectful.

While I found all of the main characters (Nan, Agatha, Archie, Finbarr and Chilton) to be well-fleshed out, making them nuanced and rich, I loved when this same attention was given to the rest of the characters, no matter how minor. For example:
‘But why would she want to kill her husband?’ Chilton said.
‘Clearly,’ said the coroner, whose wife greeted him nightly with a burnt dinner and a new list of grievances, ‘you’ve never been married.’
This is a man we only meet for a few paragraphs but that highlighted section conjures up a clear image of who he is. This approach is used throughout and is so pleasing!

Truly, I wish to say more but beyond describing it as excellent, nothing else seems to say enough.

I am a huge Agatha Christie fan and I was really pleased to be given the chance to read this early copy. Iv always been intrigued by Agatha’s disappearance for 11 days and she never spoke about it afterwards so it has always remained a mystery.
I found the first half of the book more interesting than the second and enjoyed the references to her fictional characters, I enjoyed getting to know Nan as I hadn’t known much about the affair between her and Agatha’s husband at all. All in all I enjoyed this book very much and I’d like to thank Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read it .

As a HUGE Agatha Christie fan, the mystery of her disappearance in 1926 has always intrigued me so you can imagine how I JUMPED on this as soon as I read the blurb. It was a slow burner but so cleverly crafted, and just such a beautiful nod to the Queen of Crime.

The Christie Affair is an intriguing fictional exploration of the events surrounding Agatha Christie's 11 day disappearance in 1926, written across dual timelines by Nan, the mistress of Agatha Christie's husband, giving her account of events as well as her version of Agatha's story, and adding an interesting "unreliable narrator" dimension to the disappearance and to Nan's actions and motives.

Split into three sections as the mystery unfolds, Nan describes the affair, her history and her relationship with Agatha, making for an uncomfortable but clever read.